Full text of "Handel"
py
Mti;iritJi»«i«^'- %mai-
Date Due
Ainnrf'h. )
'■^\hu *y -■],
— fi%u\i — &a~
#^
MAT 3 1 '8!'
7
r
Llbrcr; Bure«u C^t. no. 1137
THE NEW LIBRARY OF MUSIC
General Editor : Ernest Newman
HANDEL
HANDEL
HANDEL
BY
R. A. STREATFEILD
WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS
SECOND EDITION
METHUEN & GO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
V
'lish
First Published . . October yth igog
Seco7id Edition . . igio
PREFACE
To the inquiring student the ebb and flow of fashion
in the world of music present phenomena of re-
markable interest. The stone that the builders rejected
becomes the head of the corner, and the idol of one age
is trodden under foot by the next. A mute antagonism
reigns between one generation and another, and the sons
delight in nothing so much as in consigning the cherished
treasures of their fathers to the dust-heap. This is the
rough-and-ready process by which immortality, or what,
according to Mr. Arthur Balfour, passes for such in the
world of music, is ultimately achieved, and even the
greatest composers have to submit to it. For a musician
to please his own age is no very severe test. At any
given point in the history of music successful composers
may be counted by the hundred. But their day is brief.
Fashion turns her wheel, and the favourites of an hour
sink into oblivion. Then comes the final test. Will the
fallen god be lifted from the mire and restored to his
old splendour ? Will the dead musician be rediscovered
by a later generation and live a second life in their new-
born love and veneration ? A second life it must be, for
the first is dead for ever. A man's work can never mean
vi HANDEL
to a later age what it meant to the men of his own time.
But it is characteristic of great art that it carries a
message to every generation in turn. We can all find in
it something to suit our own idiosyncrasies. It may be
something entirely different from what our forefathers
found, but it is none the less valuable and none the less
true on that account.
What the music of Handel meant to the men of his
own time it is now difficult to say, but we know well
enough what it meant to our fathers and grandfathers. To
them Handel was the musician in ordinary to the Pro-
testant religion. He had been taken over bag and
baggage by the Church of England, Handel is himself
partly responsible for the popular view of his genius.
One of the most often quoted of his sayings relates to
the production of The Messiah. Some one congratulated
him upon having given the town a fine entertainment,
whereupon he replied : " My lord, I wish not only to
entertain them, but to make them better." This was a
very natural and proper observation to make, but un-
fortunately to the average Englishman to " be good "
means only to go to church or chapel on Sunday
morning and to conform externally to whatever form of
Christianity happens to suit the exigencies of his tempera-
ment ; and thus Handel's obiter dictum was gradually
twisted into meaning that he wrote with a definitely
evangelistic purpose, and in consequence he was held up
as an example of a composer who had consecrated his
genius to the service of rehgion. So widely was this
PREFACE vii
view disseminated that in time even his secular works
were claimed by the Church. In the year 1862 we find
Dean Ramsay — an amiable divine usually credited with
a sense of humour — declaring in a lecture on Handel
that " Lascia ch'io pianga " was " like all Handel's fine
Italian airs, essentially of a sacred character."
This was the Handel that the present generation in its
boyhood was expected to fall down and worship. No
wonder that, like the enterprising youth in the nursery
rhyme, we took him, metaphorically speaking, by the
left leg and threw him downstairs, though in his case it
was not because he wouldn't say his prayers, but because
he would say them and nothing else.
But even in those days there were a few who recognised
the real Handel beneath the black gown and white tie in
which his ecclesiastical friends had disguised him. In
1863 Edward FitzGerald wrote : " Handel was a good old
Pagan at heart, and, till he had to yield to the fashionable
Piety of England, stuck to Opera and Cantatas, where
he could revel and plunge and frolic without being tied
down to Orthodoxy." Twenty years later Samuel Butler,
the author of Erewhon, comparing Handel to Shakespeare,
in the opening words of his Alps and Sanctuaries said :
" It is as a poet, a sympathiser with and renderer of all
estates and conditions whether of men or things, rather
than as a mere musician, that Handel reigns supreme. . . .
There has been no one to touch Handel as an observer of
all that was observable, a lover of all that was lovable,
a hater of all that was hateable, and, therefore, as a poet.
viii HANDEL
Shakespeare loved not wisely but too well. Handel
loved as well as Shakespeare, but more wisely. He is
as much above Shakespeare as Shakespeare is above
all others, except Handel himself; he is no less lofty,
impassioned, tender, and full alike of fire and love of
play ; he is no less universal in the range of his sym-
pathies, no less a master of expression and illustration
than Shakespeare, and at the same time he is of robuster,
stronger fibre, more easy, less introspective."
In those days these were voices crying in the wilder-
ness, yet a change was at hand. The year after Butler
published his Alps and Sanctuaries appeared Rockstro's
biography of Handel, in which the then traditional view
of the composer was exaggerated to the verge of cari-
cature. I am inclined to think that Rockstro's book
dealt the death-blow to the Christian Handel. From that
time forward a certain impatience of the national Handel-
worship began to manifest itself, which, growing stronger
year by year, has ended in practically dethroning Handel
from the position that he occupied for so many years.
There is no doubt that at the present time, in England
at any rate, Handel is unpopular with those who are the
mouthpieces of cultivated musical opinion. Dr. Ernest
Walker, for instance, in his History of Music in Eng-
land, though much of his criticism of Handel is very
much to the point and is obviously derived from a
careful study of his works (which is more than can be
said for a good deal of modern Handelian criticism), says
that " no other composer can even attempt to rival
PREFACE ix
Handel in his power of intensely irritating those who
have the strongest and sanest admiration for his genius,"
and talks light-heartedly about consigning the old idol to
the rubbish-heap. I am well aware that many thousands
of Englishmen habitually attend performances of TJie
Messiah as a religious exercise, just as many thousands
habitually go to church ; but you cannot for that reason
call TJie Messiah popular as a work of art any more than
you can call the Book of Common Prayer popular as a
masterpiece of literature. If Handel were really popular,
his other works would not be shelved so completely as
they are. Thirty years ago Sainso7i, Solomon, Jephtha,
Judas, and Joshua were frequently performed in London.
Now they are practically unknown. No, the Handel of
our forefathers is dead ; it remains for us to revive a new
Handel from the ashes of the old. Handel the preacher
is laid for ever in the tomb, but Handel the artist, with
his all-embracing sympathy for human things and his
delight in the world around him, lives for evermore.
In spite of the obvious trend of modern criticism, I
anticipate a return of popularity for Handel, or if not of
popularity, at least of more general appreciation ; and,
paradoxical as it sounds, this will be accomplished by
the gradual acceptance of the theory of the poetic basis
of music. For as the comprehension of the meaning of
music grows, so will less and less value be attached
to mere questions of form. At present the advocates
of abstract music are sticklers for certain forms of
music, and they maintain, I understand, that the interest
X HANDEL
of music lies in the manner in which these forms
are used — they even talk of the " plot " of a symphonic
movement, referring only to the development of the
themes employed. When people have grasped the fact
— and in time I have little doubt that they will grasp it
— that it is what a man has to say that matters, and
that the way he says it is comparatively unimportant,
there is bound to be a reaction in favour of a man who
had a great deal to say, even though the way in which he
chose to say it now seems absolutely out of date. I
know that this sounds as if it should apply chiefly to
instrumental music, whereas Handel's most characteristic
works are vocal. But though Handel set words to music,
he often used the words merely as a peg to hang his
ideas upon, or perhaps one should say as a spring-board
from which to take dives into the infinite. I mean that
in order to find his real meaning one often has to go
behind the words to some remote idea lurking in the
background, the existence of which a casual hearer
might hardly suspect. I will give an instance of what I
mean. Every one knows the famous air " Ombra mai
fu" from the opera Serse^ which is played by every
violin student in the kingdom in a vulgarised modern
version usually described as " Handel's celebrated Largo."
This air is sung by the hero Xerxes, who is standing
beneath the boughs of his favourite plane tree. The
words mean : " Never was the shade of aught that grows
more grateful." I had known the air from childhood,
but I confess that I never realised what Handel meant
PREFACE xi
by it till I happened to stroll one Sunday evening last
summer into Lincoln's Inn Fields at the hour when one
of the excellent London County Council bands was
playing in the gardens. I paused to listen under the
shadow of a magnificent plane tree, broad and spreading
as Xerxes's own, and as the familiar melody with its
broad rich harmonies floated to my ears through the
dense foliage I knew that it was the hymn of the tree
that Handel was singing, not only of the plane tree
beloved by Xerxes, but of that other tree, emblem of
growth and strength and purity, that " bulk of spanless
girth, which lays on every side a thousand arms and
rushes to the sun."
It is the inner meaning of Handel's music, and its
power of searching the profoundest recesses of the soul,
that in the following pages I have endeavoured, so far as
I am able, to elucidate. Its merely technical qualities
have already been discussed enough and to spare. Books
on Handel written by musicians already abound, but
musicians as a rule take more interest in the means by
which an end is attained than in the end itself. They
tell us a great deal about the methods by which a
composer expresses himself, but very little about what
he actually has to express. I have tried, how feebly and
with what little success no one knows better than myself,
to find the man Handel in his music, to trace his
character, his view of life, his thoughts, feelings, and
aspirations, as they are set forth in his works. That
Handel, like other men, had his faults and weaknesses I
xii HANDEL
readily admit. Writing as he did cun^ente calamo, he had
not always time to weigh the worth of his ideas. He
was content to employ certain conventional formulas
and certain well-worn cadences, which to modern ears
seem threadbare, and if a second-rate idea occurred to
him he did not always wait for a first-rate one. Yet
to me the mighty soul moving behind seems to give life
to the driest of bones, and I feel the tremendous person-
ality of the man even in his most perfunctory strains.
Handel's warmest admirer could perhaps scarcely claim
for him that he was a greater musician than Bach or
Mozart or Beethoven. What he could claim, and I
think with justice, would be that of all who have written
music Handel was the greatest man.
It remains for me to conclude with a tribute of
gratitude to the authors from whose works I have derived
assistance. To Friedrich Chrysander, whose biography
of Handel stands alone as a monument of painstaking
erudition, my debt is greatest. It is a grievous misfortune
to the student of Handel that Chrysander's labours upon
his great edition of Handel's works prevented him from
carrying his biography beyond the year 1740. So far as
it goes it is invaluable, and the points upon which I have
ventured to differ from the learned historian are few in
number and of no great importance. I have also been
much helped by the biographies of Rockstro and
Schoelcher and the more recent monographs of Dr.
Hermann Kretzschmar and Dr. Fritz Volbach. With
regard to Handel's Italian journey in 1706-10 Signer
PREFACE xiii
Ademollo's G. F. Haendel in Italia has been of the
greatest assistance to me. To the other authorities that
I have consulted due reference has been made in the
body of the work, but I must mention with especial
gratitude Mr. Randall Davies's English Society in the
Eighteenth Century, which gives so admirable a picture of
London life during the Handelian epoch.
My warmest thanks are due to the Earl of Shaftesbury
for permitting me to make use of the MS. record of
Handel's operatic career compiled by his ancestor the
fourth Earl, which is now among the Shaftesbury papers
in the Record Office; and to the Earl of Malmesbury
for his kindness in allowing me to publish a reproduction
of his portrait of Handel by Mercier, which was painted
about the year 1748 and is undoubtedly the most lifelike
and characteristic presentment of the composer that has
come down to us. It is impossible for me to thank by
name all the friends who have helped me in my work,
but I must record my gratitude to Mr. Montgomery
Carmichael, H.M. Consul at Leghorn, to Senhor Manoel
de Carvalhaes, and to Dr. Guido Biagi, the Keeper of the
Laurentian Library at Florence, for the kind assistance
that they gave me in my attempt to unravel the history
of the production of Handel's Rodrigo.
R. A. STREATFEILD
August 1909
CONTENTS
I. Handel at Halle, 1685-1703
II. Handel at Hamburg, 1703-1706 .
III. Handel in Italy, 1706-1710
IV. Handel's First Visit to England, 1710-1711
V. Handel's Second Visit to England, 1712-1717
VI. Canons and the Royal Academy of Music
1718-1726 .....
VII. Faustina and Cuzzoni, 1726-1728 .
VIII. Handel as Manager, 1728- 1732
IX. Struggles and Defeats, i 732-1 737
X. Ecce Convertimur ad Gentes ! 1737-1741
XI. Handel in Ireland, 1741-1742
XII. The Second Bankruptcy, 1742-1745
XIII. The Turn of the Tide, 1745-1751
XIV. Handel's Blindness and Death, 1751-1759
XV. The Operas .....
XVI. Oratorios and other Choral Works .
XVII. The Messiah .
XVIII. The Later Oratorios
XIX. Instrumental Works
Appendix A .
Appendix B
Appendix C .
Index .
b
PAGE
I
27
79
98
108
118
144
160
173
189
209
221
256
284
302
326
339
340
344
349
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Handel ....... Frontispiece
From a Portrait by Mercier in the possession of the Earl of Malmesbury
FACING PAGE
The Queen's Theatre ..... 50
From a Water-Colour Drawing by W. Capon
The Landing of Senesino ..... 86
From a Contemporary Engraving
CuzzoNi AND Faustina ..... 99
From a Contemporary Engraving
CuzzoNi, Farinelli and Heidegger . . .129
From a Drawing by the Countess of Burlington
Vauxhall Gardens, with Roubiliac's Statue of
Handel ....... 149
From a Contemporary Engraving
Frost Fair on the Thames. . . . .156
From a Contemporary Engraving
Vauxhall Gardens ...... 202
From a Drawing by Rowlandson
CuzzoNi, Senesino and Berenstadt . . . 239
From an Engraving after Hogarth
Handel ........ 269
From a Portrait by Thornhill in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Facsimile of Handel's " Hunting Song " . . 303
From an Autograph in the possession of Mrs. Legh, of Adlington
Hall, Cheshire
Handel ........ 337
From an Engraving after a Portrait by Hudson
HANDEL
CHAPTER I
HANDEL AT HALLE, 1685-1703
THE political and religious wars of the seventeenth
century, so fertile and far-reaching in their issues,
accomplished nothing more important for the future of
European society than the elevation of the middle class to
the rank of a power in the state. In England the Civil
War stamped out the last traces of feudalism, in Germany
the Thirty Years' "War, though less sweeping in its ap-
parent results, cleared the field quite as effectively. At
the close of the struggle the burgher class awoke to the
fact that it was practically its own master. The bogey of
the Church was exorcised, the fangs of the aristocracy
were drawn. A Frederick the Great and a Maria Theresa
were still possible, but the command of the body politic
had passed from the belly to the brain. The results of
this social revolution, for so it practically was, were not
immediately perceptible, but the habit of self-reliance and
the acquired faculty of independent thought and judgment
bore rich fruit in the ensuing generation. From the loins
of the sturdy race that had won its way to liberty by
blood and iron sprang the giants who were to build the
shining citadel of German art. Only a line of heroes —
mute, inglorious heroes, it may be, but heroes none the
I
2 HANDEL
less — could father such a man as George . Frederick
Handel.
The Handel family originally belonged to Breslau, but
early in the seventeenth century the coppersmith Valentine
Handel migrated to Halle. His youngest son George,
the composer's father, was born in 1622. George began
life as a barber, but like many of his craft blossomed into
a surgeon. His fortune was made by a lucky operation
performed in 1660 upon Duke Augustus of Saxony, who
in gratitude appointed him " Geheimer Kammerdiener
und Leibchirurgus," which being interpreted is Groom of
the Chamber and Private Surgeon, In 1665 he bought the
house Am Schlamme, now famous as the birthplace of
George Frederick. The latter, who was the second son of
his father's second wife, Dorothea Taust, was born on the
23rd of February 1685, and was baptized on the following
day.
Halle in 1685 was in some ways but a shadow of its
past self. It had been for many years the favourite
residence of Duke Augustus, who ruled over the arch-
diocese of Magdeburg in the name of his father, John
George, the Elector of Saxony. His court at the Moritz-
burg, if not the most dazzling, was one of the most artistic
in Germany. The Halle theatre had been famous not only
for its history — for it was one of the earliest to cultivate
the German Singspiel as opposed to the fashionable
Italian opera of the day — but also for \\.% personnel, since
on its staff were to be found many of the most illustrious
musicians of the time. Records survive, too, of court
festivities of no common splendour, of ballets, tournaments,
and spectacles, which prove that life at Halle was
something very different from the trivial round of the
ordinary German provincial town. But in 1680, after the
HANDEL AT HALLE 3
death of Duke Augustus, all this gaiety came to an
abrupt conclusion. In accordance with the terms of the
Peace of Westphalia, Halle was handed over to the Elec-
torate of Brandenburg, and the young Duke Johann Adolf
of Saxe-Weissenfels, who succeeded his father, transferred
his court to Weissenfels. The muses fled from the banks
of the Saale, and Halle relapsed from courtly splendour
into the dull monotony of burgherdom. Yet though the
glory of Halle had departed, the quaint old town upon
which Handel's eyes opened was not without its charm.
The Moritzburg, not yet degraded into a Calvinistic
church, still frowned down upon the city in stately
splendour; the mysterious Rothe Thurm and the stone
Roland still whispered the secrets of the Middle Ages to
a later and more prosaic race ; and from the towers ot
Our Lady's Church the sweet-voiced bells still chimed the
evening hymn, that to the ears of the infant musician must
have sounded like a message from another world.
The chief authority for the events of Handel's child-
hood is the memoir by the Rev. John Mainwaring, which
was published in 1760, a year after Handel's death.
Mainwaring did not himself know Handel, but he collected
his anecdotes from those who did, particularly from John
Christopher Smith, who had been Handel's secretary and
was the son of one of his oldest friends, and, if due allow-
ance is made for the legendary atmosphere that invariably
gathers round the head of an illustrious man, there is no
particular reason for doubting the general truth of his
statements, though his details are often obviously pure
romance and his chronology is not to be relied on.
According to Mainwaring, therefore, the future composer
" from his very childhood discovered such a strong pro-
pensity to Music, that his father, who always intended him
4 HANDEL
for the study of Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed."
His alarm took the practical shape of consigning to the
flames all the musical toys, drums, trumpets, and so forth,
with which the boy had filled his nursery. George
Frederick himself was packed off to school, although he
cannot very well have been more than five or six years
old. However, in spite of parental sternness, he was not
altogether severed from his beloved music. He contrived,
with the aid of an amiable relative, possibly his mother
or the aunt Anna who we learn from the baptismal
register was his godmother, to smuggle a clavichord-
doubtless one of the miniature sort which could be carried
under the arm— into a garret at the top of the house.
Thither in the stillness of the night the tiny boy would
creep and practise to his heart's content, while the rest
of the household was wrapt in slumber. No better instru-
ment for these nocturnal concerts could have been devised
than the clavichord, with its sweet muffled tone, which is
barely audible a few yards from the instrument itself.
From early association the clavichord should have been
dear to Handel,— as dear as it undoubtedly was to Bach,—
yet he seems to have written nothing for it, at any rate
nothing has survived.
The next recorded event of Handel's childhood took
place, according to Mainwaring, when he was seven years
old. 'At Weissenfels, some forty miles from Halle,
occupying a subordinate position in the household of
Duke Johann Adolf, dwelt George Christian, a grandson
of old George Handel of Halle, sprung from his first
family, and a full ten years older than his little half-uncle
George Frederick. Thither, in spite of his seventy odd
years, George Handel proposed to go to visit his grandson,
and to pay his respects to the Duke. Boylike, his little
HANDEL AT HALLE 5
seven-year-old son wanted to go too, and, in the words of
Mainwaring, " finding all his solicitations ineffectual, he
had recourse to the only method which was left for the
accomplishment of his wish," that is to say, he ran after
the chaise as well as he was able, contrived to get picked
up when he was too far from Halle to be sent back alone,
made his peace with his father, and drove to Weissenfels
in triumph. At Weissenfels the stars in their courses
fought his battles for him. His astounding precocity won
the hearts of all the musicians in the Duke's orchestra,
and the Duke, who happened to hear the boy playing the
organ in the chapel one day after service, talked seriously
to his father about devoting him to the musical profes-
sion. Old Handel stood out as firmly as he could in
favour of a legal career, but the Duke was too much for
him. Doubtless the precedent of Schutz was quoted, who
had died at Weissenfels some twenty years before.
Schutz had begun life by studying law, but ere long had
yielded to the seductions of music, with such results as
even the obstinate old surgeon could scarce cavil at. In
the end he gave way, and promised that his boy should be
allowed to study music when he got home again. He
kept his word, and when they were safely back at Halle
he submitted George Frederick to the instructions of
Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of the Liebfrauen-
kirche, while insisting that at the same time he should
continue his school work just as before.
Zachow was at that time about thirty years old, and a
fair average specimen of the cantor of the period. A few
of his works have survived to our day, and show talent
and sound musicianship if not genius. The man himself
we may judge to have been worthy and conscientious.
Handel was not a man who suffered fools gladly, yet he
6 HANDEL
retained his regard for Zachow to the end of his days.
He spoke of him invariably with affection and gratitude,
and he supported his widow in her old age. Zachow was
evidently a believer in hard work. It is said that he re-
quired his pupil to produce a church cantata every week.
Handel himself admitted, according to Burney, that he
worked " like a devil " in those days. This was said d
propos of a set of trios for two hautboys and bass, which
was discovered by Lord Polwarth in Germany many
years afterwards. He brought them to England and they
were shown to Handel, who recognised them at once as a
production of his boyhood. If they are the trios printed
by Chrysander in the Handel-Gesellschaft edition, they
are the best possible proof of Handel's astounding pre-
cocity. As a specimen of the work of a boy of ten years
old they stand alone in the history of music. Even
Mozart wrote nothing at that age that can be compared
with them for freshness of melody and maturity of
musicianship. Of Handel's other works written at this
time little has survived. An interesting record of his
studies with Zachow, in the shape of a volume of extracts
from the works of his contemporaries, dated 1698, was
known to exist so late as the year 1799, but all trace
of it has now disappeared. It would have been doubly
valuable if it had proved that even at that early age
Handel had already began the practice, which he carried
in his later years to such extreme lengths, of adapting the
work of his predecessors and contemporaries to his own
use. Three years of hard work with Zachow gave Handel
all the learning that his master could impart, as the latter
himself confessed, and the boy looked round him for more
worlds to conquer. Berlin was at that time the goal
of every German musician's ambition. The Elector of
HANDEL AT HALLE 7
Brandenburg, afterwards King Frederick I of Prussia,
was a monarch of liberal tastes, and the Electress Sophia
Charlotte ruled a court which would willingly have
rivalled Versailles in its encouragement of art and artists.
Thither Handel was taken by his father, probably in the
year 1696.
The Berlin with which he made acquaintance was, it
need hardly be said, very different from the spacious and
handsome city of to-day. It contained but twenty thou-
sand inhabitants, and in its outward appearance seemed
not far removed from the country village from which it
originally sprang. Trees grew in the narrower streets,
and swine grouted among the refuse that collected under
the lime trees of the now famous Unter den Linden.
Many of the houses were thatched with straw, and wooden
chimneys added to the ever-present danger of fire. The
countrified aspect of the town was accentuated by the
fences and palings which still surrounded the houses.
The lighting of the streets was characteristically managed.
Every three houses had to provide a lantern, which was
hung at night over the door of each one in turn. Till the
very end of the seventeenth century there was no pretence
at anything like a watchman in Berlin. The inhabitants
were a quiet, law-abiding race, and the Berlin street-life
was very different from that of London. No Mohock
orgies troubled the placid banks of the Spree, and when
the Elector instituted his new police, the good Berliners
indignantly declared that they were quite capable of
looking after themselves. But though the city of Berlin
lingered in its primitive state of civilisation, the court
was nothing if not advanced and cultured. The Electress
Sophia Charlotte consoled herself for a loveless marriage
by surrounding herself with scholars and artists. Her
8 HANDEL
husband was a typical German soldier-monarch. He rose
at 4 a.m., just the time when his wife went to bed, and
worshipped etiquette a good deal more fervently than
he worshipped God ; whereas Sophia Charlotte cared little
for rules and regulations, and took a malicious pleasure
in bestowing her patronage upon persons who were not
hoffdhig.
The great literary light of the Berlin court was
Leibniz, whose friendship with Sophia earned her the
title of the Philosophic Queen, though it may be doubted
whether she was quite as competent to act the part of
Egeria to the great philosopher as her courtly flatterers
tried to make her believe. At any rate, we find her
writing in a petulant mood to a friend : " II traite tout si
superficiellement avec moi. II se defie de mon genie, car
rarement il repond avec precision sur les matieres que
j'agite."
However, when Leibniz snubbed her, Sophia Charlotte
could take refuge in music, for she was an accomplished
performer on the harpsichord, and had collected a good
library of music. She is said, too, to have dabbled in
composition. In her younger days she had been a pupil
of Steffani, who was Kapellmeister at the court of her
father, the Elector of Hanover, and she remained his
trusted friend all her life.
Her husband, though not himself troubled by artistic
leanings, liked to think that he was at the head of a
cultivated court, and encouraged her artistic tastes. She
invited celebrated musicians to Berlin, and organised
operatic performances among her household. On one
occasion she incurred the wrath of the court preacher by
summoning one of her performers to a rehearsal from the
communion table itself Possibly it was the same preacher
HANDEL AT HALLE 9
who was refused admission to Sophia Charlotte's chamber
when she lay on her death-bed some ten years later.
" Laissez-moi mourir," whispered the poor lady to her
attendants, " sans disputer." ^
On what pretext the youthful Handel went to Berlin
is not clear, but probably his fame had overstepped the
limits of his native town, and a sedulous courtier may
have desired to gratify his royal patrons by introducing
a new infant prodigy to their musical circle. Handel's
visit to Berlin was an unqualified triumph. The Elector
and Electress were at his feet in a moment. The bonds
of etiquette dissolved in his presence, and the courtiers
vied with each other in singing the praises of the wonder-
ful child whose performance upon harpsichord and organ
put to shame the grey-haired professors of music.
The story of Handel's encounter with Bononcini and
Ariosti at the court of Sophia Charlotte must be regret-
fully dismissed to the limbo of legend. Mainwaring
relates with a profusion of detail how the gentle Ariosti
welcomed the boy with rapture, applauded him with
sincere delight, and held him on his knee for hours together
while they talked of music and her inexhaustible treasures.^
Bononcini, on the other hand, we are told, stood
^ Erman, J. P., Mimoires pour sefvir ^ Vhistoire de Sophie Charlotte,
Heine de Frusse, Berlin, 1801, 8° ; Hahn, W., Friedrick, der erste Kdnig in
Preussen, Berlin, 185 1, 8°.
* Ariosti is usually described by his contemporaries as an amiable and
unambitious man. An epigram, however, by Paolo Rolli, published in his
Marziale in Albion (1776), gives a less attractive view of his character. It
may be roughly translated as follows : —
" Here lies Attilio Ariosti —
He'd borrow still, could he accost ye.
Priest to the last, whate'er betide,
At others' cost he lived — and died."
lo HANDEL
sullenly aloof, ignoring the boy when possible, and when
he was compelled to notice his existence, presenting him
with the most difficult test of musicianship that he could
devise — a cantata bristling with chromatic harmonies,
which the lad was to accompany at sight from the figured
bass. Handel fulfilled the task with complete success,
and Bononcini was forced to admit his young rival's
attainments, but he nursed his jealous envy in secret, and
when they met many years afterwards, memories of
Berlin added rancour to his hatred of the man who had
vanquished him in London.
All this, unfortunately, is pure romance. As Handel's
father died early in 1697, the Berlin visit cannot have
taken place later than 1696. Modern research has dis-
covered that Ariosti did not reach Berlin until the spring
of 1697, and Bononcini not until 1702. It is just possible
that when Handel left Halle in 1703 he may have passed
through Berlin on his way to Hamburg. In that case
he would probably have met both Ariosti and Bononcini,
and possibly may have submitted to Bononcini's test. In
any case, the romantic picture of the youthful Handel
sitting upon Ariosti's knee must be abandoned, for it
would have needed a man of stouter build than the frail
little Italian abate to nurse an eighteen-year-old stripling
of Handel's sturdy build.^
The Elector gave the boy more than barren eulogy.
Wishing like a true Maecenas to attach so brilliantly
gifted a genius to his own court, he offered to send him
at once to complete his education in Italy, and on his
return to give him a suitable position at Berlin. But
^ Ebert, Attilio Ariosti in Berlin, Leipzig, 1905 ; " Briefe der Konigin
Sophie Charlotte von Preussen." {Publikationen aiis den K. Pretissischen
StaatsarcJuveit, Bd. 79.)
HANDEL AT HALLE ii
the tough old surgeon at Halle was as obstinate as ever.
He still dreamed of legal honours for his Benjamin, and
we may hope, too, that parental affection had something
to do with his prompt refusal of the suggestion that he
should part with the child of his declining years. At any
rate the royal bounty was uncompromisingly declined,
and we may be glad of it, for the mere thought of Handel,
the proudest spirit that ever wrote music, as a pensioner
of royal charity, even at an age when refusal or acceptance
did not rest with him, has something repulsive about it.
Handel, however, was to owe nothing to the favours of
the great, and his father's rejection of the Elector's offer
was the signal for the boy's return to Halle. After his
taste of the splendours of the court, it must have been
difficult for the lad to settle down to the common tasks
of his life at Halle. But all thoughts of leaving home
were banished from his mind by the death of his father
at the age of seventy-five in 1697, which left him and
his two little sisters dependent upon his mother. Frau
Dorothea was fully equal to the task of bringing up her
young family. The amiable divine who preached her
funeral sermon enlarged upon her " pleasant gifts of mind
and body, and her talent in ruling her household " ; but
funeral sermons have little weight as evidence, and the
best tribute to the good lady's educational system lies
in the character of her son, and in the strong affection
which he bore her until the day of her death.
Five years now passed rapidly over Handel's head —
five years of schooling at the Gymnasium, and of counsel
if not precisely of instruction from Zachow, for whom he
often acted as assistant. In February 1702 he matriculated
at the University of Halle, which had been founded only a
few years before, as a " Studiosus Juris," or student of law.
12 HANDEL
But, however conscientiously Handel strove to fulfil his
father's wishes as to his career, the muse was not to be
denied. During his later schooldays he must have made
considerable progress in music, since to Telemann (him-
self a rising composer who passed through Halle in 1701
and made Handel's acquaintance) he was " the already
accomplished George Frederick Handel."^
Hardly had he entered the university when an event
occurred which threatened to interfere very seriously with
his legal studies, that is to say, he received the appoint-
ment of organist at the Schlosskirche, the second church
in Halle. The salary was fifty thalers and an official
residence in the Moritzburg, which was sub-let at sixteen
thalers a year. He was to serve a probation of twelve
months, not because of any doubt as to his musical
capacity, but in order that the Calvinist congregation
might make up their minds whether they could endure
to have their hymn tunes played to them by a staunch
Lutheran. Handel's duties were not merely to play the
organ at all the services, but to see that the instrument
was kept in proper repair and working order, to compose
psalm tunes and cantatas for all Sundays and festivals,
and to ensure their proper performance.
There is no reason to suppose that Handel failed in
any of these duties — indeed he had plenty of time not
only to keep up an animated correspondence with his
friend Telemann, who was now established at Leipzig
but to pay him occasional visits, probably at the ducal
court of Weissenfels, for which Telemann, stripling as he
was, wrote no fewer than four operas.^ At Halle, too
Handel's official tasks were not onerous enough to satisfy
his fiery spirit, and he induced some of his university
^ Mattheson, Gruitdlage eiuer Ehren-Pforte, s.v. Telemann.
HANDEL AT HALLE 13
comrades to form a voluntary choir, so as to give per-
formances on Wednesdays and Saturdays of vocal and
instrumental music, of a more elaborate nature than was
admissible on Sundays. It may well be imagined that
many of his own compositions first saw the light under
these conditions, but of the music that he wrote at this
period but little has survived.
A setting of the Laudate Pueri for soprano solo is
undoubtedly authentic, and contains many characteristic
touches. One of the melodies is a kind of early sketch
for " O had I Jubal's lyre," and another with its repeti-
tion of a single note has a kinship with the theme
of " Blessing, glory, wisdom, and power," in TJie
Messiah.
There exist also two oratorios dating from this period
which have been attributed to Handel, Die ErWsung des
Volks Gottes aus Egypten and Der ungerathene So/in,
and a church cantata, Ach Herr, mich armen Sunder,
but though Chrysander was inclined to accept the cantata
as genuine, he did not include it in his great edition, and
the consensus of critical opinion is against the authenticity
of all three works. Handel's term of office at the Schloss-
kirche was but a short one. Ere his year of probation
had expired, he was sighing for fresh woods and pastures
new. He had stuck manfully to his legal studies for
many years, but as he drew near to manhood his natural
genius asserted itself He felt that music was his vocation,
and knew that his duty called him to the service of
art rather than to the dull round of slavery to which his
father had destined him. He felt, too, that Halle was
too narrow a field for his genius. He needed a wider
horizon and ampler skies. So Pegasus burst from his
harness, and sought the viewless fields of air. One fine
14 HANDEL
summer morning Handel left Halle behind him, and
turned his steps northward. It was not without a pang,
we may be sure, that he relinquished the scene of boy-
hood's dreams and struggles, for he was leaving behind
him his mother and sisters and others perhaps who were
dear, but the call of life had sounded, the immortal
longings would not be stifled, and the boy, full of ardent
hope and glowing ambition, hastened away to take his
place in the great battle of life.
CHAPTER II
HANDEL AT HAMBURG, 1703-1706
HAMBURG at the opening of the eighteenth century-
stood apart from the other great cities of Germany.
Its isolated position had not only saved it from the terrors
of the Thirty Years' War, but had induced many wealthy
citizens from other towns to take refuge within its walls.
Strengthened thus in substance and consideration, it had
an advantage over its rivals when peace at last came, and
during the latter half of the seventeenth century it easily
established itself as the chief trading centre of Germany.
Its commercial prosperity reacted upon its social life.
The wealthy burghers could afford to send their sons
on the grand tour, and to educate their daughters in the
age's best accomplishments. Thus, while many German
towns were still lingering in the mists of medievalism,
Hamburg boasted an almost Italian degree of culture.
In 1678 a theatre was opened, in which the German
tongue was for the first time employed for operatic
purposes. At first the operas given were sacred, but
though the range of subject was strictly limited, no
bounds were placed upon the splendour of decorations
and accessories. Contemporary writers vie with each
other in describing the sumptuous scenery and dresses.
Even the French critic Regnard was compelled grudgingly
I 6 HANDEL
to acknowledge that " las operas n'y sont pas mal repre-
sentes ; j'y ai trouve celui d' ' Alceste ' tres beau."
As time went on, sacred operas gave way to secular,
and the last sacred opera was performed in 1692. But
before that date, opera, even in cultivated Hamburg, had
to live down a good deal of prejudice and opposition.
The pietistic pastors of the period undertook a new
crusade against this latest snare of Satan. They
fulminated against opera from their pulpits, they de-
nounced it in the streets. So successful was their
campaign that in 1684 they induced the civic council to
order the closure of the theatre. But the triumph of
blindness and bigotry was shortlived. In the following
year the theatre was reopened, and ere long reached the
zenith of its success under the auspices of Reinhard
Keiser, who rose upon the Hamburg horizon in 1694.
When Handel reached Hamburg in 1703 the decline
had already begun. German opera was yielding its pride
of place before the advance of the stranger. Not merely
were operas given in Italian and French, but even
German works were interspersed with Italian airs. The
taste of the city, too, was not what it had been. Opera
wavered between idle pomp and gross buffoonery, and
Keiser, who had undertaken the management of the
theatre in 1703, was dissipating his brilliant talents in
riotous living and debauchery. Still, there was much for
a boy of Handel's age to learn in Hamburg, and he
plunged into the enchanted world of music with the
eagerness of a neophyte.
Soon after his arrival at Hamburg, Handel fell in with
Johann Mattheson, one of the cleverest men of his time,
who, though only four years older than Handel, was
already a personage of considerable influence in Hamburg
HANDEL AT HAMBURG 17
musical circles. Mattheson was everything by turns, and
I nothing long. He sang at the opera, played in the
I orchestra, was an organist, poet, and composer, and, in
fact, was ready to turn his hand to anything. He is now
, famous chiefly for his writings on music, of which one
of the most entertaining is his Grimdlage einer Ehren-Pforte,
a biographical dictionary of musicians of priceless value
to students of the period, though it is always necessary
in reading it to make allowance for Mattheson's inordinate
vanity and his jealousy of rival composers. Of the youth-
ful Handel he writes : " Handel came to Hamburg in the
summer of 1703, rich only in ability and goodwill. I was
almost the first with whom he made acquaintance. I took
him round to all the choirs and organs here, and introduced
him to operas and concerts, particularly to a certain house
where everything was given up to music. At first he
played second violin in the opera orchestra, and behaved
as if he could not count five, being naturally inclined
to a dry humour. (I know well enough that he will laugh
heartily when he reads this, though as a rule he laughs
but little. Especially if he remembers the pigeon-fancier,
who travelled with us by the post to Lubeck, or the
pastrycook's son who blew the bellows for us when we
played in the Maria Magdalena Church here. That was
the 30th July, and on the 15th we had been for a water-
party, and hundreds of similar incidents come back to me
as I write). But once when the harpsichord player failed
to appear he allowed himself to be persuaded to take his
place, and showed himself a man — a thing no one had
before suspected, save I alone. At that time he composed
very long, long airs, and really interminable cantatas,
which had neither the right kind of skill nor of taste,
i though complete in harmony, but the lofty schooling
1 8 HANDEL
of opera soon trimmed him into other fashions. He was
strong at the organ, stronger than Kuhnau in fugue and
counterpoint, especially ex tempore} but he knew very
little about melody till he came to the Hamburg operas.
At that time he came nearly every day and took his
meals at my father's house, and he gave me many hints
about counterpoint. I helped him, too, in the dramatic
style, so one hand washed the other.
" On the 17th of August in the same year we journeyed
to Lubeck, and in the carriage made many double fugues
da mente non da penna. I had been invited by Magnus von
Wedderkopp, the president of the council, to compete for
the post of successor to the renowned organist Dietrich
Buxtehude. and I took Handel with me. We played on
almost all the organs and harpsichords in the place, and
made an agreement, which I have mentioned in another
place, that he should only play the organ and I only the
harpsichord. However, it turned out that there was some
marriage condition proposed in connection with the
appointment, for which we neither of us felt the smallest
inclination, so we said good-bye to the place, after havmg
enjoyed ourselves extremely, and received many gratifymg
tributes of respect."
In another book Mattheson makes a further reference
to Handel's early days at Hamburg: "There is a world-
renowned man, who when he first came to Hamburg only
knew how to make regular set fugues, and imitations were
as new to him as a foreign tongue, and as difficult. No one
1 In his Critica Musica (i. 326) Mattheson makes special reference to
Handel's talent for improvisation : " And among the younger men I have not
found one who has such readiness as Herr Capellmeister Handel, not only
in composition but also in extemporisation, as I have hundreds of times heard
with my own ears in the greatest amazement and admiration.
HANDEL AT HAMBURG 19
knows better than I how he used to bring me his first
opera scene by scene, and every evening would take my
opinion about it — and the trouble it cost him to conceal
the pedant ! Let no one be surprised at this. I learned
from him just as he learned from me. Docendo enhn
discimusy ^
The friendship between Handel and Mattheson lasted
for some time after their Lubeck adventure, and Mattheson
in his Ehren-Pforte quotes an affectionate letter written
to him by Handel in 1704. But later in the year matters
became somewhat strained between the two friends
though their quarrel did not break forth into open
wrath until the 5th of December, at a performance of
Mattheson's opera Cleopatra, in which Handel played the
harpsichord and Mattheson himself sang the principal
part. But we will let Mattheson tell his own story : " I
as composer directed the performance and also sang the
part of Antony, who has to die a good half-hour before
the end of the opera. Hitherto" {i.e. at the previous
performances, Cleopatra having been produced on Oct. 20)
" I had been accustomed after finishing my part to go into
the orchestra and accompany the remaining scenes, and
this is a thing which incontestably the composer can do
better than any one else. However, on this occasion
Handel refused to give up his place. On this account we
were incited by some who were present to engage in a
duel in the open market-place, after the performance was
over, before a crowd of spectators — a piece of folly which
might have turned out disastrously for both of us, had not
my blade splintered by God's grace upon a broad metal
button on Handel's coat. No harm came of the encounter,
and we were soon reconciled again by the kind influences
^ Critica Musica, i. 243.
20 HANDEL
of a worthy councillor and the manager of the theatre.
Whereupon I entertained Handel at dinner on that very-
day, the 30th of December, after which we went together
to the rehearsal of his opera Alinira, and were better friends
than ever."
What the rights and wrongs of the quarrel actually
were it is now of course impossible to say, but there is
no particular reason to suppose, as all Handel's previous
biographers have taken for granted, that the fault rested
entirely with Mattheson.
Mainwaring actually falsifies chronology so as to make
Handel out to be a lad of fourteen at the time of the duel,
and speaks of that historic event as an " assassination
more than a rencounter," while Rockstro cannot speak too
bitterly about Mattheson's effrontery, treachery, and so
forth, whereas the saintly Handel is " too good a Christian
to bear malice," and altogether behaves in a manner that
would at once qualify him for admission into the angelic
choir. As a matter of fact, Handel was the last person
in the world to play the part of an injured and long-
suffering innocent, and in this quarrel, as in all others in
which he was engaged, he probably gave as good as he
got. The misunderstanding between the two friends
seems to have originated in Mattheson's appointment, in
October 1704, to the post of tutor to the son of John
Wyche, the English envoy at Hamburg. Handel had
previously been engaged to give the boy music lessons,
but his duties not unnaturally ceased on Mattheson's
appointment. Handel considered himself ill-used, and
probably suspected Mattheson of underhand dealings.
His suspicions may or may not have been well-founded,
but there is no evidence to prove that Mattheson behaved
badly. As to the trouble about the accompaniments to
HANDEL AT HAMBURG 21
Cleopatra, Handel was evidently in the wrong, since he
seems to have made no difficulty about giving up his
place at the harpsichord to Mattheson before the fatal
5th of December. As Mattheson had accompanied the
closing scenes of the opera for more than six weeks on
end, he certainly had every reason to feel aggrieved at
Handel's sudden determination to stand upon his rights
as cembalist. However, the matter is of little enough
importance, especially as it ended in the friendly and
comfortable manner above recorded.
Meanwhile Handel's talents were winning wider and
wider recognition. We have seen that by the autumn
of 1704 he was seated in the conductor's chair at the
harpsichord, in succession to Keiser, whose loose life was
fast losing him popularity and employment in the city
which a few years ago had been at his feet, and on the
previous Good Friday he had produced his setting of the
Passion according to St. John. This little work, though
trifling compared to Handel's subsequent achievements,
is specially interesting to us not only as being the earliest
authentic composition of the composer that has survived
to our day, but as the subject of one of the first and by
no means the least elaborate essays in criticism that
musical history can show. On the subject of Handel's
Passion music, Mattheson is discreetly silent in his sketch
of the composer's life published in his Ehren-P forte (1740),
yet in his Critica Musica (1722) he printed a most venom-
ous criticism of the work, treating it in the utmost detail
and riddling it with every shot in his locker. What
prompted this attack we cannot now say with certainty,
unless it may have been Handel's repeated refusals to
contribute a sketch of his career to Mattheson's
Ehren-Pforte. A letter politely declining Mattheson's
2 2 HANDEL
offer written in 17 19 is extant, which may well be the
fons et origo mali. However that may be, Mattheson's
criticism remains a ridiculous outburst of splenetic malice.
No one would claim that Handel's early Passion is a
masterpiece, or anything like one. With many faults of
immaturity and inexperience, it has passages of remark-
able freshness and beauty, and on the whole is rich in
promise. Mattheson's onslaught upon the work, twenty
years after its production, injured Handel's reputation
as a composer far less effectually than it blackened
Mattheson's character as a friend.
But if the John Passion did little to spread Handel's
fame, his next work, the opera Almira, lifted him at once
to the front rank of living composers. The libretto was
originally designed for Keiser, but the latter, between his
duties as manager and the excesses of his private life, found
little time for composing. However, he wanted a new
opera for the winter season, so he passed the libretto on
to Handel, little dreaming that in the youthful cembalist
he was to find a rival who would seriously threaten his
own supremacy.^ Almira, which was produced on the
8th of January 1705, with Mattheson in the principal
tenor part, was one of those strange mixtures of German
and Italian which were popular in Hamburg at the time.
Many of the Hamburg operas, including Ab)iira, were
translated from the Italian, and it was usual to leave a
certain number of solo numbers in the original for the
sake of the singers who wanted to show off their voices
to the best advantage, and fancied that they could do so
more effectually in the liquid accents of the south. The
audience, on the other hand, unlike opera-goers of to-day,
^ F. A. Voigt, " Reinhard Keiser." {Vierteljahrsschrift fur Musikwissen-
schaft, Jahrg. vi.)
HANDEL AT HAMBURG 23
wanted to be able to follow the plot, so for their benefit
the recitatives and the songs of the comic characters were
translated into the vernacular. The result must have
been somewhat surprising, but we must not be too hard
upon Hamburg taste, for the same polyglot system was
employed in London as well about that time. Almira
was a triumphant success, and ran uninterruptedly until
the 25th of February, when it was replaced by Handel's
second opera Nero, a work of which the music has un-
fortunately perished. Its freshness and originality charmed
the ears that were weary of Reiser's waning talent, and
its faults of inexperience were forgiven in the dazzling
splendour of a sumptuous mounting.
Almira made Handel many friends, and one enemy.
Keiser alone looked on gloomily at his young comrade's
success, and listened unwillingly to his praises. To such
lengths did his jealousy carry him that he determined to
challenge Handel's supremacy by setting the libretto of
Almira himself. He did so, and produced his version in
the following autumn with so little success, that very
soon afterwards he shook the dust of Hamburg from his
feet, and retired to the seclusion of his native village, a
defeated and disappointed man.
Meanwhile, the success of Almira turned Handel's
thoughts to wider fields and ampler skies. Some years
previously he had made the acquaintance of a man who
was destined to exercise an important influence upon his
career. This was Prince Giovanni Gastone dei Medici,
the second son of Cosmo III, the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
a man of most unsavoury reputation, whose thousand
vices have so long been notorious that his one virtue
— that of having turned Handel's thoughts to Italy —
should in common kindness be given its proper place in
24 HANDEL
history. Gian Gastone, as he was always called, who was
born in 1671, was a man of truly Tuscan refinement,
culture, and sensibility, though his morals were de-
plorable. He was hardly more than a boy when his
father, anxious for the Medici succession, hurried him
into a loveless marriage with a princess of Saxe-
Lauenburg, a woman homely of feature, excessively
stout, coarse in nature and violent in temper, who cared
for nothing but hunting, and loved animals more than
men. Exiled from his beloved Florence to a castle in
the wilds of Bohemia, linked to a virago whom he
detested, Gian Gastone sank almost involuntarily into
debauchery and turpitude. At times he would escape
from the loathsome embraces of his gaoleress, and seek
consolation in such dissipation as the neighbouring
German cities could offer. It was no doubt but a poor
substitute for the luxurious enchantment of Italy, but
it was something to hear music and to meet men who
could talk to him of other things than shooting birds or
chasing stags. On one of these excursions fate led his
steps to Hamburg. In the winter of 1703-4 he stayed
there for several months, lost a great deal of money at
play, and made friends with Handel. Gian Gastone was
something of a musician himself In his younger days
he had played the flute, and like a true Florentine he
adored opera. It is easy to imagine with what eloquence
he discoursed upon his lost fatherland, upon the art of
Italy, and the magic of her wondrous sky. Handel
listened with greedy ears, and within him rose longings
for that enchanted land of the south, whose very name
was music, where genius blossomed as it could never
blossom in the mists of the northern ocean. Mainwaring's
account of Handel's relations with Gian Gastone, which
HANDEL AT HAMBURG 25
has been followed by subsequent biographers, is obviously
sown with inaccuracies. He represents their acquaintance
as dating from the production of Alniira, which is out
of the question, since by the autumn of 1704 Gian Gastone
was back in Bohemia trying his utmost to persuade his
wife to accompany him to Florence.^ We may be pretty
certain also that the Prince never offered to pay Handel's
expenses on a trip to Italy.
Gian Gastone wanted all the money he could lay
hands upon for himself, and never was a man in a worse
position for playing Maecenas to a promising young
musician. He was always in debt, and his correspond-
ence with his father is one long cry for money. As a
matter of fact, while he was actually at Hamburg, his sister,
the Electress Palatine, was moving heaven and earth on
his behalf to raise money to pay his gaming debts, and
before he could leave Prague for Italy in 1705 he had to
raise a hundred thousand florins in order to satisfy his
creditors. But if Gian Gastone was not in a position to
play the princely patron, he could promise Handel a
warm and kindly reception at his father's court whenever
he was able to make the journey south. "With this object
in view, Handel settled down to a course of steady work,
in order to make the money necessary for the journey to
Italy which he felt was necessary for his artistic develop-
ment. After the production of Nero he seems to have
had little to do with the theatre. Probably he found that
he made more money by giving private lessons, and the
atmosphere of envy, malice, and all uncharitableness which
seems to have brooded permanently over the Hamburg
theatre was no doubt distasteful to a man of his honest
and straightforward character. Some time in 1706 he
^ Robiony, Gli Ultimi del ATedici.
26 HANDEL
wrote a third opera, Florindo und Daphne, which, however,
was not produced until 1708/ when it was given in two
sections on account of its extreme length. But by that
time Handel was far away.
The date of his departure from Hamburg is not known.
Most likely it took place in the summer or early autumn
of 1706, for Prince Gian Gastone was at that time staying
in Florence, and it is reasonable to suppose that Handel
would wish to be introduced to the Grand Ducal court
under his friend's auspices. According to Mattheson, he
travelled in company with another friend named von
Binitz, who paid all his expenses. In all probability
we shall not be far wrong if we picture Handel leaving
Hamburg in July, paying a flying visit to his mother at
Halle on his way south, entering Italy by the well-trodden
Brenner route, and reaching Florence in September or
October 1706.
^ Mattheson, Der Musikalische Patriot.
CHAPTER III
HANDEL IN ITALY, 1706-1710
TUSCANY was groaning beneath the brainless and
bigoted sway of the Grand Duke Cosmo III when
Handel first set foot in Florence. The glorious traditions
of Florentine art and science were a thing of the past, and
the country was sunk in priest-ridden sloth, squalor, and
poverty. Of all the arts, music alone received any en-
couragement at the court, and this was due not to the
Grand Duke, but to his eldest son Ferdinand, the Gran
Principe, as he was always called, who was an excellent
musician, and an enlightened and intelligent patron of the
art. Ferdinand kept up the best traditions of the Medici
family in this respect. All forms of music received his
patronage, but to opera he was especially devoted. In
his beautiful villa at Pratolino, high up in the lovely valley
of the Mugnone, some dozen miles from Florence, he had
built a magnificent theatre, where every year operatic
performances were given under his auspices, that were
the talk of all Italy. To Ferdinand music was a second
religion. It was the guiding principle that regulated his
life. Early in the autumn it was his custom to repair to
Pratolino, where his villeggiatura was spent in the society
of the choicest singers and musicians that Italy could
produce. The opening of the Carnival drew him to
28 HANDEL
Florence, where masquerades, festivals, and operatic per-
formances alternated in a bewildering whirl of gaiety.
From Florence he went to Pisa for hunting, and in the
sultry days of summer he sought the sea-breezes of
Leghorn, a city for which he had a special predilection,
and whose theatre under his patronage became famous for
the excellence of its operatic performances.^ Ferdinand
was on the friendliest terms with Alessandro Scarlatti and
other noted musicians of the day, indeed Scarlatti's letters
to him which are preserved in the Arckivio Mediceo show
that his musical culture was something far above that
of the average dilettante princeling. We find Scarlatti
thanking him for suggestions, and consulting him as to
the composition of his operas in a manner very different
from that in which the humble composer usually adopts
in addressing his princely patron. To Ferdinand Handel
was introduced by his friend Gian Gastone, who was in
Florence from June 1705 to November 1706, and had
doubtless given his brother a glowing description of the
new musical genius whom he had discovered in far-away
Hamburg, long before Handel had appeared upon the
scene.
Handel probably reached Florence in the autumn of
1706, and was no doubt speedily summoned to Pratolino,
where Ferdinand was by that time established with his
court. For three or four years Alessandro Scarlatti had
been Ferdinand's favourite musician, and had had the
honour of supplying Pratolino with its annual novelty,
but in 1706 a coldness seems to have arisen between the
composer and his Mjecenas, and he was succeeded in the
latter's good graces by Perti. It is possible that during
^ Anonymous MS. biography of Ferdinand in the possession of Mr. Herbert
Home.
HANDEL IN ITALY 29
the interregnum Handel may have enjoyed a brief period
of court favour. Ferdinand used to complain of the
" melancholy" character of Scarlatti's operas, and possibly
he turned to Handel in the hope of hearing something
more vivacious.
Handel's first opera, Rodrigo, was certainly written
during his stay at Florence, and probably in response
to a commission from Ferdinand, but no record of its
production has survived. It is not mentioned by Allacci,
whose Drainmaturgia (Venice, 1755) is a tolerably com-
plete record of the Italian opera of the period, though he
duly records the performance of a certain Rodei^ico, which
was given in the presence of Ferdinand in 1692 by the
Accademia degli Innominati. Very possibly it was the
libretto of this opera which, according to the fashion of
the time, was re-set by Handel. Had Rodrigo been given
at Pratolino, some mention of it would almost infallibly
have occurred in the Medicean archives. But Puliti,
whose valuable Cenni storici della vita di Ferdinando del
Medici gives an exhaustive catalogue of the musical works
performed at Pratolino, knows nothing of the details ot
its production, though he corrects Mainwaring's statement
with regard to the present which Handel received in
return for his opera. According to him it was Prince
Ferdinand, and not the Grand Duke, who gave Handel
a hundred sequins together with a service, not of silver,
as Mainwaring states, but of porcelain.
I had imagined that Rodrigo might have been performed
at Leghorn, during one of Ferdinand's summer visits
to the sea, but Mr. Montgomery Carmichael, who has
investigated the matter with the utmost kindness and
assiduity, assures me that this is not the case. Probably
Rodrigo was produced in Florence itself. At that time
30 HANDEL
the Teatro della Pergola was not used for opera, but the
Teatro di Via del Cocomero (now the Teatro Niccolini)
was open, and this may have been the scene of Rodrigds
production. It is more likely, however, that it was
privately performed in the Pitti Palace, as was the case
with an opera called Enea in Italia, which was given there
in 1698 in honour of the birthday of the Grand Duchess
Vittoria,
It is, of course, possible that the production of
Rodrigo took place not on the occasion of Handel's first
visit to Florence, but when he was there for the second
time in the autumn of the same year on his way to Venice.
Of this second visit we know but little, and in all prob-
ability it was a short one. Handel was in Florence for
the third time on his way to Venice in the autumn of
1709 before leaving Italy altogether, but it is almost
impossible that Rodrigo can have been performed then,
owing to Ferdinand's bad health. On the whole, the
probility is that Rodrigo was written in the autumn of 1706,
and produced during the Carnival season of 1707.
Rodrigo has proved a stumbling-block to Handel's
biographers in many ways, not least in the romantically
sentimental legend of Vittoria Tesi the singer, which has
twined itself around the story of the opera's production,
and which it is now my mournful duty to disprove. Let
us trace the legend to its source. Mainwaring writes :
" Vittoria, who was much admired both as an actress and
a singer, bore a principal part in this opera. She was a
fine woman, and had for some time been much in the good
graces of His Serene Highness." The reverend gentleman
then suggests that " Handel's youth and comeliness, joined
with his fame and abilities in music, had made impressions
on her heart." It will be observed that Mainwaring
HANDEL IN ITALY 31
speaks of the lady merely as Vittoria. It was left for
Chrysander to jump to the conclusion that the famous
Vittoria Tesi was the singer in question, and under his
fostering care the legend grew to ample proportions, so
that the passion of la Tesi for Handel, her pursuit of him
to Venice, and the triumphs that she there won in his
Agrippina, are now part of the stock-in-trade of every
hack musical historian. Neither Chrysander nor his
copyists seem to have remembered the fact that Vittoria
Tesi was a contralto, whereas the heroines in Rodrigo
and Agrippina are both sopranos. But biographers are
notorious sentimentalists, and in the supposed necessity of
fitting out their hero with an appropriate love story such
trifles as this are easily ignored. As a matter of fact,
Vittoria Tesi at the date of the production of Rodrigo was
precisely seven years old. Her baptismal register exists
in Florence, and has been recently printed by Signer
Ademollo,^ to whom is due all the credit of exploding
Chrysander's absurd legend. Vittoria Tesi was born in
1700, and did not make her debut until 1716, when she
sang at Parma with the celebrated Cuzzoni in a pastoral
entitled Dafne. The heroine of Rodrigo was a very
different person — to wit, Vittoria Tarquini, familiarly
called la Bovibace or Bambagia, a brilliant singer who had
adorned Ferdinand's court since 1699, and had taken a
promiment part in the operatic performances at Pratolino.
As for la Bonibaces penchant for Handel, I am not inclined
to treat it very seriously. She was a clever woman, and
contrived to remain in the good graces of the Prince
almost up to the day of her death. The story of her
ousting a long-established favourite is told with much
gusto in Luca Ombrosi's sketch of Ferdinand's career,
^ Niiova Antologia, i6th July 1889.
32 HANDEL
and evidently she knew far too well which side her bread
was buttered to venture into a damaging liaison with a
travelling musician. She did not sing in Agrippina, the
cast of which is perfectly well known, and the story of
her following Handel to Venice is obviously pure
romance.
Soon after the production of Rodrigo, Handel started
for Rome, intending doubtless to spend Holy Week
and Easter there, in order to hear the world-famous
music associated with the services of the Church. With
regard to Handel's arrival at Rome we are on com-
paratively safe ground. We know by the signed and
dated autograph of a setting of the Dixit Dominus that
he was there on 4th April 1707, and the autograph of
a Laudate Pueri further assures us that he was still
there on 8th July. The general impression of his
biographers seems to be that he then returned to
Florence, driven from Rome by the unhealthy climate of
the summer and autumn months. But this theory is
founded upon a delusion. In those days there existed
no prejudice against the Roman summer, and the smart
society of Rome braved the terrors of the dog-days with
the utmost equanimity — indeed August seems to have been
a favourite month for social festivities. ^ Moreover, con-
clusive proof of Handel's presence in Rome during the
summer months is furnished byan interesting letter now pre-
served in the Medici archives, written in Rome on the 24th
of September 1707.^ It is addressed by a certain Annibale
Merlini to Ferdinand dei Medici, giving a description of a
juvenile prodigy who was at that time the great musical
sensation of the Eternal City. " He is a lad of twelve
^ AdemoUo, I teatri di Roma, pp. 107, 165, etc.
2 Archivio Mediceo, Filza 5897.
HANDEL IN ITALY 33
years," writes Merlini, " a Roman by birth, who, though of
so tender an age, plays the arciliiito with such science and
freedom that if compositions he has never even seen are
put before him he rivals the most experienced and cele-
brated professors, and wins great admiration and well-
deserved applause. He appears at the concerts and leading
academies of Rome, as, for instance, at that of His Eminence
Cardinal Ottoboni, and at that which continues daily for
all the year at the Casa Colonna, and in the Collegio
Clementine, and at these as in other public academies he
plays a solo and in company with all kinds of virtuosi.
And all this can be testified by the famous Saxon, v/ho has
heard him in the Casa Ottoboni, and in the Casa Colonna
has played with him, and plays there continually."^
In Rome, indeed, there was much to detain Handel.
The composor of Rodrigo was a person of consideration,
and Handel doubtless brought letters of introduction from
his friends at Florence to the leaders of cultivated society in
Rome. Of these Cardinal Ottoboni, the nephew of Pope
Alexander Vlll, and the friend and correspondent of
Ferdinand dei Medici, was the most famous and brilliant.
Ottoboni was at that time a man of forty, handsome in
feature, aristocratic in manner, profoundly versed in all
the culture of the age and a devoted lover of music. He
was enormously rich, his revenues from the various bene-
fices that he held amounting to 80,000 scudi a year,
exclusive of his private fortune. His charity was inex-
haustible. He founded a free dispensary for the poor,
entertained pilgrims at his own table, and inaugurated
various benevolent institutions. But his pet hobby was
his " Accademia poetico - musicale," to which Merlini
refers. The aim of the Academy, which was founded
^ See Appendix A.
3
34 HANDEL
in 1701, was the revival of the ancient glories of Italian
sacred music. Ottoboni gathered around him all the poets
and musicians of Rome. He held frequent concerts,
instituted competitions and gave magnificent prizes. He
was something of a poet himself, and wrote some capital
opera and oratorio libretti for Scarlatti. In his young
days, too, he had tried his hand at musical composition,
though the failure of his opera Colombo in 1692 seems
to have checked his ambition in that direction.
Blainville, who had been secretary to the States-General
at the Court of Spain, was in Rome in the spring of 1707,
and has left an account of a concert at Cardinal Ottoboni's,
at which in all probability Handel himself was present :
" His Eminence," he writes, " keeps in his pay the best
musicians and performers in Rome, and amongst others
the famous Archangelo Corelli and young Paolucci, who
is reckoned the finest voice in Europe, so that every
Wednesday he has an excellent concert in his palace, and
we assisted there this very day (14th May 1707). We
were there served with iced and other delicate liquors, and
this is likewise the custom when the Cardinals or Roman
princes visit each other. But the greatest inconveniency
in all these concerts and visits is that one is pestered with
swarms of trifling little Abbes, who come thither on purpose
to fill their bellies with these liquors, and to carry off the
crystal bottles with the napkins into the bargain." ^
Handel was, as we have seen, a welcome visitor at
Ottoboni's splendid palace, hard by the Church of St.
Lorenzo in Damaso, but, being a foreigner, he does not
seem to have been actually admitted to membership of
the Academy. Under Ottoboni's roof he rubbed shoulders
with some of the most famous of living musicians, among
^ Blainville, Travels, vol. ii. chap. xl.
HANDEL IN ITALY 35
them Caldara, Corelli, and Alessandro Scarlatti.
Here also he met Cardinal Benedetto Panfili, who wrote
for him the libretto of // Trionfo del Tempo, and the
Marquis di RuspoH, one of Scarlatti's chief patrons, in
whose house Handel was staying when he wrote his
oratorio La Resurrezione in April 1708. Ruspoli was
one of the leading lights of the famous Academy of the
Arcadians, which had been founded in 1690 "to further
the cultivation of the sciences and to awake throughout
Italy the taste for humane letters, and in particular for
poetry in the vulgar tongue." Everybody in Rome who
had any pretensions to culture was an Arcadian. Prelates
and painters, musicians and poets met on equal terms
in the delicious gardens of the Roman nobility, where
the academical meetings took place. The fiction of
Arcadia was kept up even in nomenclature. Every
Arcadian was known by a pastoral name. Corelli was
Arcimelo, Alessandro Scarlatti Terpandro, and Pasquini
Protico. These three famous musicians were admitted
members in 1706, and from that time forward music
played a prominent part in the life of the Academy.
No one under the age of twenty-four was available for
membership, so that Handel never actually belonged to
the Academy ; but he was a frequent guest at the meetings,
and took his full share in the musical performances.
Mr. E. J. Dent, in his admirable biography of Scar-
latti, quotes an interesting description from Crescimbeni's
Arcadia of one of the Academy's music-meetings, which
gives a good idea of the kind of entertainment at which
Handel must often have assisted :
" First came a sinfonia of Corelli, then two cantatas of
Pasquini to words by Gian Battista Felici Zappi (Tirsi)
After this came a duet by Scarlatti, also to words by
36 HANDEL
Zappi, followed by an instrumental piece of some sort.
Scarlatti was at the harpsichord, but managed at the same
time to observe that Zappi was in process of thinking out
a new poem. He begged Zappi to produce it ; Zappi
agreed to do so on condition that Scarlatti set it to music
at once. Scarlatti assented, and ' no sooner had Tirsi
finished his recital than Terpandro, with a truly stupend-
ous promptness, began to transcribe the verses recited,
with the music thereto ; and when these had been sung,
the souls of those present received of them so great
delight, that they not only obliged the singer to repeat
the song again and again, but also urged both poet and
musician to display their skill afresh.' After some pressing
Zappi and Scarlatti repeated their impromptu perform-
ance, and ' meanwhile every one was astonished to see how
two such excellent masters, the one of poetry and the
other of music, did contend ; and this contention was so
close that scarce had the one finished repeating the last
line of the new air than the other ended the last stave
of the music' "
Handel left Rome some time in the autumn of 1707,
and took his way northwards to Venice.
He may have passed through Florence on his way,
but if so it is not likely that he stayed there very long.^
Prince Ferdinand was at Pratolino all that autumn, busy
with the production of Perti's Dionisio, which had been
specially composed for him, and Handel probably pushed
on to Venice as quickly as he could. The precise date
of his arrival cannot now be discovered, but it is known
that he was presented to Prince Ernest Augustus of
* It was by no means the universal custom in those days to travel from
Rome to Venice via Florence. Both Misson and Blainville went from
Venice to Rome by Ancona, Loretto, Foligno, and Terni.
HANDEL IN ITALY 37
Hanover on the occasion of this visit, and as the Prince
arrived in Venice on 30th September, and departed at
the end of November,^ we know at any rate that the
historians who have represented Handel as only arriving
in Venice in time for the Carnival are wrong. In Venice
Handel found himself in the home of opera. In Florence
opera was the plaything of princes, and at Rome papal
prejudice forbade it altogether, but at Venice it was
beloved of rich and poor alike, and at that time no fewer
than seven ^ theatres were devoted to its cultivation.
Handel doubtless visited all of them, and heard the
operas of Lotti, Gasparini, Albinoni and other famous
composers, and listened to the mellifluous tones of Senesino,
who was then singing at the Teatro San Cassiano, but he
wrote nothing himself^
Why this was so, it is now hard to say. Perhaps,
being a foreigner, he found the doors of the theatres
closed to him, or it is possible that he regarded his visit
^ Brief e des Herzogs Ernst August zu Braunschweig- Liineburg an T. F. D,
von Wendt, 1 902.
2 Misson, New Voyage to Italy, 1 7 14, vol. i. pt. i.
^ Handel's two visits to Venice have given grievous cause for stumbling to
all his biographers.
The original Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin was
Mainwaring, who, notoriously inaccurate as he was with regard to times and
seasons, confused the two visits, and placed the production of Agrippina dur-
ing the first instead of the second. This error has been reproduced by almost
all Handel's subsequent biographers, despite the fact staring them in the face
in all the records of Venetian operatic history that Agrippina was produced
during the Carnival season of 1709-10. In the first volume of his biography
of Handel, published in 1858, Chrysander followed Mainwaring's error, but
many years afterwards he admitted his mistake. Unfortunately his recanta-
tion appeared in a periodical little read in England {Vierteljahrsschrift fiir
Musikwissenschaft, vol. x. 1894), and passed almost unnoticed, so that
modern writers on Handel have gone on light-heartedly copying the
oric:inal blunder.
38 HANDEL
to Venice as a holiday, and did not care to undertake
serious work. He seems, at any rate, to have enjoyed
himself, and to have made friends with many useful and
influential people. The story of his meeting with Domenico
Scarlatti, who was at Venice at the time studying with
Gasparini, is well known.
It took place at a masquerade, where Handel was
persuaded to play the harpsichord. The beauty of his
performance astonished the guests, and every one wondered
who the masked musician could be who achieved such
miracles of dexterity, until Scarlatti, who had probably
heard from friends in Rome of Handel's accomplishments,
cried out that it must be either the famous Saxon or the
devil.
From that time forward Handel and Domenico were
fast friends. They returned together from Venice to
Rome, and often met in friendly rivalry in the palace of
Cardinal Ottoboni or of some other musical magnate. It
was at one of the meetings of the Cardinal's Academy that
the famous contest between the two virtuosi took place, in
which they were adjudged equal so far as the harpsichord
was concerned, while on the organ Handel was admittedly
superior. All his life long Domenico retained his respect
and admiration for Handel, and in his later years he is
said never to have mentioned Handel's name without
crossing himself. It is not, however, recorded that Handel
crossed himself at the name of Scarlatti.
Reference has already been made to Handel's meeting
with Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover. The Prince
was the youngest brother of the Elector of Hanover, who
a few years later became George I of England, From all
accounts, he was a singularly amiable young man, and his
correspondence shows him to have been a great lover of
HANDEL IN ITALY 39
music. Handel met him at a fortunate moment. The
Prince was having a dull time in Venice, for his two
companions, Baron von Pallandt and Kammerherr van
Fabrice/ seem to have spent most of their time in houses
of ill fame, and left their royal master to amuse himself
as best he could. Consequently Ernest Augustus made a
great deal of Handel, and ended by begging him to pay a
visit to Hanover when his Italian tour was over.
Another grandee who crossed Handel's path in
Venice was the Duke of Manchester,^ who was an
ardent patron of music, and worked as hard as any man
of his time towards establishing Italian opera in England.
The Duke was Ambassador Extraordinary at Venice
from July 1707 to October 1708, and entered with the
utmost gusto into the musical life of the city.^ He gave
Vanbrugh material help in choosing the singers for his
new opera-house in the Haymarket, and, to judge by
his correspondence, spent a good deal more of his time
in listening to the newest virtuosi and in shopping for
the Duchess of Marlborough than in transacting official
business. Where he first met Handel we do not know,
but he seems to have been struck by the young com-
poser's talent, and at once invited him to London.
Handel's arrangements would not allow him to accept
the invitation forthwith, but there is no doubt that the
Duke's amiable suggestion first turned his thoughts in
the direction of England.
Meanwhile he was due back in Rome, where his
^ It is worth while to mention the names of these egregious persons,
since it has often been stated that the Prince was accompanied by Baron von
Kielmansegg and Steffani.
^ Gentleman^ s Magazine, vol. xxx. p. 24.
^ Duke of Manchester, Cotirt and Society from Elizabeth to Ajine, vol. ii.
40 HANDEL
friends the Arcadians were eagerly awaiting him. The
chronology of Handel's Italian journeys is distressingly
vague, and we know not whether Handel stayed in
Venice for the Carnival, or kept his Christmas in Rome.
There is an old tradition that Handel spent a Christmas
in Rome, and heard the zampognari or pifferari, as the
shepherds of the Abruzzi are called, who at that season
descend from the mountains and play their quaint
bagpipe melodies in the streets of Rome. It has been
argued that the superscription pifa, which occurs in the
autograph of The Messiah, implies that the Pastoral
Symphony is founded upon one of these shepherd
melodies. More probably it is only an imitation of the
traditional style, like Corelli's famous Christmas concerto
or the lovely pastoral air in Scarlatti's Christmas oratorio,
which is quoted by Mr. Dent in his life of the composer.
Still, it would be pleasant to think that Handel had
heard the pifferari, and had listened to the wild music
that a hundred years later made so profound an im-
pression upon the j^outhful Berlioz.
Whether Handel heard the pifferari or not, he was
certainly back in Rome early in the spring, safely
established in the palace of his friend the Marquis di
Ruspoli. An autograph cantata in the British Museum is
dated Rome, 3 March 1708, and in April he composed his
first oratorio, La Resurrezione, which was soon followed
by the allegorical cantata, // Trionfo del Tempo e del
Disinganno. Both saw the light in the palace of Cardinal
Ottoboni. It was during a rehearsal of the latter that
the famous scene occurred in which Corelli and Handel
played such characteristic parts. Corelli, whose technique
appears to have been but moderate, — witness the story
which Burney tells, on the authority of Corelli's pupil
HANDEL IN ITALY 41
Geminiani, of the famous violinist's lamentable fiasco at a
concert in Naples, — was struggling with a difficult passage
in the overture, when the impetuous German snatched the
violin from his hands and played it himself All that the
gentle Corelli said was : " But, my dear Saxon, this music
is in the French style, of which I have no experience." The
matter was settled by Handel's writing a fresh symphony
in a less exacting style. Handel left Rome for Naples
early in the summer. He was in Naples by the begin-
ning of July, as we learn from the date upon the
autograph of his trio, " Se tu non lasci amore." The
tradition that he was accompanied upon his journey by
Alessandro Scarlatti has no foundation in fact, since
the latter was in Rome in October, and did not reach
Naples until the end of the year.^
Naples was a whirlpool of political conflict when
Handel arrived there. For some years the struggles
for the Spanish Succession had disturbed its tranquillity.
The Archduke Charles of Austria had been proclaimed
King of Spain in 1705, and in 1707 the Austrian troops
had occupied Naples. When Handel reached Naples
in July 1708 the post of viceroy had just been given to
Cardinal Grimani, a Venetian, whose government was
little appreciated by the jealous Neapolitans. The city
swarmed with Austrian soldiers, discontented for lack
of pay, and on the look-out for anything that they could
pick up. Street disturbances were frequent, and blood
flowed freely. Nevertheless, in the palaces of the
nobility life went on much as usual. There was no
lack of festivity, and Handel and his music were as
welcome here as they had been in Rome. According to
Mainwaring "he had a palazzo at command, and was
^ Dent, Alessandro Scarlatti,
42 HANDEL
provided with table, coach, and all other accom-
modations. . . . He received invitations from most of
the principal persons who lived within reach of the
capital, and lucky was he esteemed who could engage
him soonest and detain him longest." Mr. Dent quotes
from Conforto, a Neapolitan diarist of the early eighteenth
century, a description of a musical party of the period,
which gives a good idea of the kind of entertainment in
which Handel must often have taken part : " Among
other things, he (an extravagant nobleman) held at his
house a most lively assembly with the choicest music,
consisting of ten instruments and four of the best voices
of this city, directed by the Maestro di Cappella,
Alessandro Scarlatti ; and to the large crowd of titled
persons that attended he caused to be offered con-
tinuously an unspeakable quantity of meats and drinks
of all kinds, with various fruits, both fresh and candied,
as he did also for the large number of servants in attend-
ance on them. His palace was all most nobly decorated,
and all lit with wax torches as far as the courtyard ; the
sideboard consisted of two long tables of silver fairly
and symmetrically disposed ; and there was visible in
the distance a most beautiful fountain, also of silver,
which for seven continuous hours spouted perfumed
water, about which fluttered a large number of live birds.
There was also a pavilion of crimson damask, under
which were fourteen superb trionfi of fruit, both fresh
and candied, as well as other curious inventions. The
which entertainment lasted some time after midnight,
the ladies and gentlemen, according to their usual habit,
after having filled their bellies and their bosoms with
sweetmeats, and having had every pleasure of sight,
taste, and hearing, not failing to scoff and make a mock
HANDEL IN ITALY 43
of the solemn folly of the last new marquis." There was
a branch of the Arcadian Academy at Naples, which
greeted Handel with acclamation, and it is almost cer-
tain that he composed the pastoral cantata, Act, Galatea
e Polifenw, a work which has nothing save name in
common with the better known Acis and Galatea, for
one of the Academical gatherings. Society at Naples
was more cosmopolitan than in Rome. Mainwaring
says that Handel's chief patroness was a Spanish Princess,
and it was no doubt for her that he wrote his one
extant Spanish song with guitar accompaniment. For
another friend he wrote a set of little French chansons,
to say nothing of the numerous cantatas that flowed
like water from his pen during the whole of his sojourn
in Italy. But the most influential friend that Handel
made in Naples was Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, the
Viceroy, who seems to have taken the composer under
his special protection, and evidently smoothed the way
for his return to Venice and for the production of
Agrippina. Grimani was a Venetian, and his family
owned the Teatro di San Giovanni Grisostomo, so that
his influence threw open all doors to Handel, that had
been closed before owing to the prevailing prejudice
against foreigners. His amiability carried him still
further. In his leisure moments he trifled not un-
successfully with the muse, and he paid Handel the
compliment of writing for him the libretto of Agrippina}
How long Handel stayed in Naples it is impossible
^ A note in Bonlini's Glorie della Poesia has been strangely misinterpreted
by Chrysander. Referring to Agrippina the author observes : " Questo
drama, come pure PElmiro, Re di Corinto e POrazio, rappresentate piu di
venti anno sono su I'istesso teatro, vantano comune I'origine da una Fonte
sublime." (This drama, as also Elmiro, Re di Corinto and Orazio, per-
44 HANDEL
to say, but he must have been back in Rome some time
in the spring of 1709, since he undoubtedly made
Steffani's acquaintance during his stay in Italy, and
Steffani, who had been sent to the papal court on a
diplomatic mission by the Elector Palatine, was only in
Italy from October 1708 to June 1709.^ Steffani was
something very much more than a mere musician,
indeed in some ways he was one of the most remark-
able men of his time. He started life as a chorister in
Venice, and rose by his own exertions to be one of the
leading diplomatists of Europe. He had been Kapell-
meister at Hanover since 1685, and was now on the
look-out for a promising successor. He must have
known Handel well by reputation, since his former pupil
Sophia Charlotte, now Queen of Prussia, was one of the
young composer's earliest patronesses. He probably
met Handel beneath the hospitable roof of Cardinal
Ottoboni, and seized the opportunity of suggesting that
Handel should step into his shoes at Hanover. Handel
jumped at the offer, and promised to make his way to
Hanover directly he left Italy.
It was probably in the autumn of 1709 that Handel
said good-bye to Rome, and turned his steps northward.
It is not known by what route he travelled, but we may
consider it at least probable that he went via Florence, in
formed more than twenty years before at the same theatre, boast a common
origin from a sublime Fount. )
The "sublime Fount" is, of course, Cardinal Grimani, who wrote the
libretti of Elmiro, Re di Corinto and Orazio, produced respectively at the
Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo in 1687 and 1688, as well as that of
Agrippina, but Chrysander in the most fantastic manner tried to twist out
of the words a reference to Florence, the cradle of opera, in order to justify
his view of the chronology of Handel's Italian travels.
1 Woker, " Aus den Papieren des Kurpfalzischen Ministers Agostino
Steffani." {Vereinsschrift der Gorres-Geselbchaft, 1885.)
HANDEL IN ITALY 45
order to say good-bye to his friends at the Medici court.
If so, he found them in sad trouble. The G^-an Principe
Ferdinand had been for some time in faiHng health. His
constitution was undermined by youthful excesses, and
in the previous year he had been brought almost to
death's door by the ministrations of an English physician
from the fleet at Leghorn, who had subjected him to a
treatment more drastic than his constitution could stand.^
In August 1709 he had gone as usual to pass the
autumn at Pratolino, and had been struck down on the
1st of September by a series of epileptic fits. For some
time his life was in danger.^ Prayers were offered up
in all the Florentine churches, and the anxiety in the
city was great.^ By the end of the month, however,
Ferdinand seemed to be well on the way to recovery,
and a Te Deuin of thanksgiving, " with solemn and
exquisite music and rich symphonies, composed by the
first musicians of Florence and other foreign musicians,"*
was sung in the Church of the Annunziata.
If Handel stayed in Florence on his way to Venice,
it is quite possible that he was one of the foreign
musicians who helped to compose the Te Deiivi, especi-
ally as his old patron Gian Gastone was in Florence at
the time, and was actually present at the thanksgiving
service.'' But we really know next to nothing of his
movements at this period.
^ Galluzzi, Istoria del Granducato di Toscaua, Tom. iv. Libro 8.
^ Seltimanni, Diario, 1532-1737. (Archivio di Stato, Florence. )
^ Portinari, Diario, 1700-20. (Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence).
* Settimanni, Diario.
^ Mr. P. Robinson, in his Handel and his Orbit, has propounded a theory
that in the spring or summer of 1709 Handel visited the shores of the lake of
Como, stayed with friends at Urio and Erba, two villages in the neighbour-
hood, and there composed the Te Deuin and Magnificat, hitherto ascribed
46 HANDEL
In due course Handel arrived at Venice, and the
credentials that he brought from Cardinal Grimani made
the production of Agrippina at the Teatro di San Giovanni
Grisostomo an easy matter. There is an apparent dis-
crepancy between the various records of its production.
The libretto is dated 1709, and Allacci, followed by Wiel,
gives 1709 as the date of production. Bonlini, on the
other hand, followed by Ademollo, says 17 10. The
ambiguity arises from the fact that Agrippina was pro-
duced in what was called the Carnival season of 17 10, and
in Bonlini's catalogue all the operas produced during
that season are grouped together under the date 1710.
But the Carnival season actually began on December
26th, and as Agrippina comes first in Bonlini's list of the
Carnival operas we may take it for granted that it was
chosen to open the season. It may therefore be taken as
a settled fact that Agrippina was produced on the 26th of
December 1709. The scene must have been brilliance
and gaiety itself The opening of the Carnival was the
great day of the year in Venice. The city was crowded
with strangers from every country in Europe, and the
theatres were crammed from floor to ceiling. The Teatro
di San Giovanni Grisostomo was one of the handsomest
respectively to obscure contemporary composers named Urio and Erba, of
which he made extensive use in later works. Mr. Robinson's singularly
cogent and luminous reasoning may be said to have established the Handelian
authorship of both works, though no actual evidence is forthcoming as to the
date and place of their composition. It is quite possible that Handel left
Rome with Steffani at the end of April 1709, and travelled with him via
Florence to Venice, where he arrived on the 13th of May (Woker, Aus den
Papieren Agostino Steffanis). Stefifani stayed for a few days at the palace of
the Elector of Hanover, and then returned to Diisseldorf. Handel may have
accompanied Steffani to Venice, which would give some colour to Mainwaring's
story of their having met there, and then gone to stay with his friends near
Como.
I
HANDEL IN ITALY 47
in Venice. It had been built about thirty years before, in
the richest and most luxurious taste of the barocco period.
Its decorations were getting a little dingy, but at night,
when thronged with a brilliant audience, and illumin-
ated by the hundreds of wax tapers which the ladies
brought with them to enhance their charms, it still
contrived to make a brave show. The boxes were
occupied by richly bejewelled ladies with their attendant
cavaliers, for it was the fashion just then in Venice for a
woman when she went to the opera to wear all the jewel-
lery she could lay her hands upon. The pit and gallery
were densely packed with gondoliers, who were admitted
gratis, and enlivened the performance with sympathetic
cries of delight and personal remarks of a remarkably
intimate nature addressed to the singers. Agrippina
went, in the expressive Italian phrase, to the stars. The
audience waxed tumultuous in their enthusiasm as the
evening wore on. Cries of " Long live the Saxon 1 " rent
the air, while the gondoliers in the gallery called down
benedictions on every singer in turn, in such phrases as
" Blessed be the father that begat thee," and " Blessed be
the mother that bare thee." Meanwhile the young nobles
in the boxes caught the infection. Leaning over the
balustrade towards the stage in a frenzy of artistic rapture,
they cried, " Cara, I throw myself headlong at your feet,"
and similar extravagances, while hastily written sonnets
hurled upon the stage testified to the inspiring influence
of Handel's music, and to the irresistible charms of his
singers.^ Handel was the hero of the hour, and every calle
in Venice rang with his praises.
Among the singers who took part in the opera were
Francesca Durastanti (Agrippina), who afterwards sang
' Blainville, Travels, vol. i. chap. Ix.wiii.
48 HANDEL
under Handel in London ; Boschi, a tremendous bass with
a compass of two octaves and a half, who had sung in
Naples in Handel's Act, Galatea e Polifenio ; and his wife,
who appeared as Ottone. The principal castrato in the
cast was Valeriano Pellegrini, who took the part of Nero.
Pellegrini, or Valeriano as he was generally called, was a
favourite singer of Johann Wilhelm, the Elector Palatine,
at whose court he was generally to be found. Valeriano
seems to have scored a great success in Agrippina.
Giorgio Stella, another of the Elector's singers, writing
from Venice to his patron on the loth of January 1710
says : " I meant to send you the songs from the opera
that is being played at the San Cassiano theatre, but I
could not get hold of them. I am not sending the songs
of the San Giovanni Grisostomo opera, as I suppose that
Valeriano will send them. He is much applauded there,
as he is a great artist." ^ Agrippina ran uninterruptedly
for twenty-seven nights, a thing rare in the annals of
Venetian opera, if not unprecedented, and soon brought
all Venice to Handel's feet. His friend, the Duke of
Manchester, was no longer in Venice, and Prince Ernest
Augustus had also gone home, but there were plenty of
other distinguished foreigners amusing themselves in the
city of the lagoons.
Among them was one of the leading lights of the
Hanoverian court, Baron Kielmansegg, the Elector's
Master of the Horse, and the husband of the lady who
enjoyed the reputation of being her sovereign's favourite
mistress. Kielmansegg had probably heard of Handel
from Prince Ernest Augustus and Steffani, and he was
doubtless flattered to find that a fellow-German was the
' Einstein, " Italienische Musiker am Hofe der Neuburger Wittelsbacher."
{Sammelbiinde der Internationalen MusikgeseUschafl, Jahrg. ix. p. 407.)
HANDEL IN ITALY 49
hero of the hour in Venetian salons. At any rate, he
made friends with Handel, and probably took him back
to Hanover when he left Italy in the spring of 17 10.
In Hanover Handel was warmly welcomed by Steffani,
to whose kind and friendly behaviour he afterwards
paid a warm tribute in a conversation with Sir John
Hawkins, which the latter records in his history : " When
I first arrived at Hanover I was a young man. I under-
stood somewhat of music, and — putting forth his broad
hands and extending his fingers — could play pretty well
on the organ. He received me with great kindness, and
took an early opportunity to introduce me to the Princess
Sophia and the Elector's son, giving them to understand
that I was what he was pleased to call a virtuoso in music.
He obliged me with instructions for my conduct and
behaviour during my residence in Hanover, and being
called from the city to attend to matters of a public
concern, he left me in possession of that favour and
patronage which himself had enjoyed for a series of
years."
Handel received the appointment of Kapellmeister on
the i6th of June i/io,^ at an annual salary of 1000 thalers,
but his stay in Hanover was a brief one. It seems to
have been an understood thing that he was to finish his
Wanderjahre before settling down to his work, and he
soon obtained leave of absence. His first visit was to
his mother at Halle, and after a short stay there he
proceeded to Diisseldorf, where he was warmly welcomed
at the court of the Elector Palatine. Johann Wilhelm
was a typical German princeling of the eighteenth
century. The Versailles tradition had dazzled him, and
his starving people had to pay for the follies and ex-
^ Fischer, Ope7-n tind Concerte im Hof theater zu Hatmover, 1899.
4
50 HANDEL
travagances of his court at Dusseldorf. In many ways he
was a man of cultivation and refinement. The famous
picture gallery of Dusseldorf bore witness to the correct-
ness of his artistic taste. Music was another of his
passions. The opera at Dusseldorf was one of the most
brilliant in Germany, and the Elector's private band was
specially admired by Blainville, who visited Dusseldorf in
1705. Even that seasoned traveller was dumbfounded at
the magnificence of the Electoral court. " Balls, operas,"
he wrote, " comedies, concerts of music, festivals, all are
equally splendid, all of which diversions we shared
regularly during the month we were there." About
Johann Wilhelm himself he wrote with some hesitation :
" The Prince is of a middle stature, square-built, has a
wide large mouth, and his under-lip very thick and turned
up. He is about forty-six years of age, very courteous and
affable, but not of a very equal temper, being so easy as
to be the dupe of the first rogue that has the courage to
put upon him, especially in matters that he imagines may
contribute to his grandeur, for he is ambitious beyond all
bounds." A neat little character-sketch follows of the
Electress Anna Maria, who was a daughter of Cosmo III,
the Grand Duke of Tuscany : " She is tall and easy, of a
genteel shape, very fair in her complexion for an Italian
lady, has black eyes, large and well cut. Her hair is of
the same colour ; she has a pretty mouth, only her lips
are a little too thick. Her teeth are white as ivory, but
her voice is a little too masculine, and she laughs too loud.
She is about thirty-seven, and has never had any children.
They say here that she is extremely jealous of her husband,
to such a degree, that she has not unfrequently exposed
herself to insults, by following him in the night veiled with
a mantle, to find out his gallantries. There is nothing
HANDEL IN ITALY 51
astonishing in this, considering that she was educated in
a country where jealousy prevails to madness, and all the
world knows that the Elector is no enemy to gallantry." ^
Johann Wilhelm and his wife must both have known all
about Handel, — the Elector from Steffani, with whom he
maintained a close correspondence, and Anna Maria from
her brothers Ferdinand and Gian Gastone, — and they
welcomed him to Diisseldorf with open arms. Johann
Wilhelm would gladly have kept Handel at his court, but
that being impossible, he sped him on his way to England,
presenting him on his departure from Diisseldorf with a
service of plate. Handel journeyed to England through
Holland, arriving in London in the late autumn of 17 10.
1 Blainville, Travels in Holland, Germany, Italy, etc., vol. i. chap. viii.
CHAPTER IV
HANDEL'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND, 1710-1711
IT would be interesting to know what were Handel's
first impressions of London. It must necessarily
have struck him as very different from anything he had
yet seen, and he felt no doubt that he had left equally
far behind him the tranquil respectability of Halle and
Hamburg and the culture and vivacity of Rome and
Florence, In the early eighteenth century travel and
education had not swept away racial barriers. Society
was not yet cosmopolitan. Each country had its own
prejudices and peculiarities, and London in those days
differed as much from Paris, as Paris now differs from
Constantinople. London in 1710 was a compact city of
some five hundred thousand inhabitants, about the present
size of Birmingham. On the west it reached as far as
Bond Street, on the north to Russell Square, and on
the east to Whitechapel Church. Beyond these limits
meadows and fields extended to the neighbouring villages,
such as Kensington, Hampstead, and Ilford. Within the
city the tumult, dirt and disorder were such as we
moderns can scarcely realise. There were laws directing
householders to keep the streets clean in front of their
houses, but no one paid any attention to them. The
streets were ankle-deep in mud and encumbered with
HANDEL'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 53
heaps of refuse, which it seemed to be no one's business
to clear away. In the middle of the eighteenth century-
no great surprise was expressed at the discovery of the
body of a murdered infant, after several days' search, on
a dunghill in Drury Lane. The crowd in the principal
streets was overpowering, but though contemporary
complaints of the noise are common, I suspect that in
this respect our modern motor-buses could give points
to the waggons of Queen Anne's time. At night, how-
ever, we have unquestionably the advantage. The few-
miserable oil-lamps that illuminated the streets in those
days served but to make darkness visible, or to help
the dreaded Mohocks to escape the interference of the
watch. As to the Mohocks, it is probable that the horrors
of their nocturnal exploits were considerably exaggerated,
but even if we allow a margin for embroidery they remain
sufficiently serious. We may doubt, for instance, whether
it was a common pastime for these gentry to force an
unarmed man to fight, and to kill him in the middle of
the street, or to thrust a woman into a barrel and roll
her down Ludgate Hill, though both feats are recorded
as being favourite Mohock practices ; but the issue of a
proclamation referring to " the great and unusual Riots
and Barbarities, which have lately been committed in the
Night time in the open Streets," proves that the nocturnal
dangers of London were far from being merely the
figments of diseased imagination. But the truth was
that public opinion was only just being aroused to the
indecorum of this kind of thing. At a time when duels
were openly fought in Lincoln's Inn Fields or in the
meadows of Bloomsbury, the appeal to force struck no one
as an offence against civilisation. If the horrors of the
Mohock frolics were somewhat exaggerated by Gay and
54 HANDEL
other writers of the time, there was no necessity for
embroidering the exploits of the professional thieves who
lurked in the quieter streets for unprotected wayfarers.
To what lengths their audacity could go, Lady Cowper's
Diary sets forth : " Friday night Mr. Mickelwaite was set
upon by nine Footpads, who fired at his Postilion without
bidding him stand just at the end of Bedford Row, in the
road which goes there from Pancras Church to Gray's Inn
Lane. His servants and he fired at them again, and the
Pads did the same, till all the Fire was spent, and then he
rode through them to the Town, to call for Help, it being
dark, which they seeing they could not prevent, ran away.
Near that Place, under the dead Wall of Gray's Inn
Garden, a Gentlewoman, coming Home with her son
about half an hour after ten of Saturday Night, two men
met them, one of whom struck the Lan thorn out of her
Son's Hand, and ran away with his Hat and Wig. She
cried out ' Thieves ! ' and they shot her immediately through
the Head, and are not yet discovered." ^ Nearly half a
century later the streets were still dangerous. Horace
Walpole wrote in 1750 : " I was sitting in my own dining-
room [in Arlington Street] on Sunday night ; the clock
had not struck eleven, when I heard a loud cry of ' Stop
thief!' A highwayman had attacked a post-chaise in
Piccadilly within fifty yards of this house ; the fellow was
pursued, rode over the watchman, almost killed him, and
escaped." On the other hand, in certain social matters,
such as the twopenny post and the " Flying Coaches," the
England of Queen Anne's time set an excellent example
to foreign countries. The growth of club and coffee-house
life, which was a feature of this period, also tended to
soothe the ferocious manners of the day. Theatres were
^ Diary of Lady Coivper, 1 716.
HANDEL'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 55
to some extent under a cloud, owing largely to Queen
Anne's personal disapproval of the stage, and in respect
of opera Handel found London just as far behind the
humblest German or Italian capital as it is to-day — a
more complete condemnation cannot be conceived !
Until a few years before Handel's arrival there had
been no opera at all in London. In 1705, however, an
attempt was made to acclimatise in England the form
of art which had been the delight of Italy for a hundred
years. Clayton's Arsinoe was produced at Drury Lane
"after the Italian manner, all sung." The opera was
given in English, and the singers were all English, though
at the first performance, according to the advertisement,
Signora de I'Epine gave " several entertainments of
singing before the beginning and after the ending of the
Opera." Arsinoe broke the ice, and London soon woke
up to the fact that the new form of entertainment was
worth cultivating. Marcantonio Bononcini's Camilla, also
given in English, was the next success. It was produced
in 1706, and in the same year Sir John Vanbrugh opened
his new Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket (" By Beauty
founded, and by Wit designed," as the prologue gracefully
phrased it, in compliment to Lady Sutherland, who laid
the foundation stone) with Giacomo Greber's Loves of
Ergasto, an Italian opera Englished by P. A. Motteux.
Ergasto was a failure, and was followed by Vanbrugh's
Confederacy. The new theatre, however, was too large
for comedy, and Vanbrugh determined to persevere with
opera. He tried to bring Bononcini to England, and his
friend and patron, the Duke of Manchester, whose position
as Ambassador Extraordinary at Venice placed him at the
very heart of the operatic world, exhausted all the arts
of diplomacy in his endeavours to win from the court of
56 HANDEL
Vienna permission for the popular composer to visit
London.^ Failing Bononcini himself, the English dilet-
tanti had to content themselves with his music, and
Camilla was revived in 1707. Meanwhile opera was
becoming the fashion, though the absurd plan of giving
the words, Hamburg fashion, partly in English and partly
in Italian was still followed. Writing early in 1708 to
the Duke of Manchester, who was quite as greedy for
operatic as for political news, Vanbrugh declares that " the
town cries out for a new man and woman of the first rate
to be got against next winter from Italy." Manchester,
as usual, was Vanbrugh's good angel. He discovered the
desiderated " new man," and brought him in triumph
to England in the handsome person of Nicolini, who
appeared in the autumn of 1708 in Scarlatti's Pirro e
Demetrio, and took London by storm. He was mutatis
mutandis the Caruso of the hour, and his doings were
catalogued by journalists with respectful awe. He was as
good an actor as he was a singer, and even Steele, who
from his position in the theatrical world had excellent
reasons for grudging opera its popularity, did him full
justice in this respect. His famous fight with the lion in
Hydaspes furnished the Spectator and the Tatler with an
admirable target for the arrows of their satire. Hitherto
all the operatic performances in London had been either
English or bilingual, but in 17 10 the town, as Addison
observed, tired of understanding but half of the entertain-
ment, determined for the future to understand none of it,
and Almahide was performed in Italian alone, followed
by Bononcini's Eteaixo, also given without any admixture
of English. London was thus ripe for Handel. Addison
and Steele had in vain exhausted their powers of ridicule.
^ Duke of Manchester, Court and Society.
HANDEL'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 57
Italian opera was firmly established in the good graces of
society. The new composer, fresh from his triumphs in
Italy, was received with open arms, and speedily received
a commission from Aaron Hill to compose an opera for
the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, whither the Drury
Lane operatic company had migrated in 1708. Rinaldo
was written in a fortnight to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi,
who complained that he could not turn his verses out
quickly enough to keep pace with the fervid flow of
Handel's inspiration. Rinaldo was produced with great
success on the 24th of February 171 1, and was performed
fifteen times before the close of the season, which came to
an end on the 2nd of June. It is incorrect to say, as
many of Handel's biographers have done, that Rinaldo
was performed fifteen times without interruption. On the
contrary, its run was broken by revivals, given " at the
desire of several ladies of quality," of Hydaspes, Almahide,
Pirro e Demetrio, and Clotilda, the attractions of the
last-named being enhanced by a "Water-scene" which,
according to the advertisements, " by reason of the Hot
Weather," played for the greater part of the evening.
Rinaldo itself underwent a certain amount of modifica-
tion. After it had run for a month, some dances were
introduced by M. du Breil and Mademoiselle la Feve,
"just arrived from Bruxelles."
The success of Rinaldo alarmed the advocates of
English opera, of whom the spokesmen were Addison
and Steele. Steele, who was a patentee of Drury Lane
and the owner of a concert-room in York Buildings, saw
his audiences drifting away to the Haymarket. Addison
was still smarting from the failure of his English opera
Rosamond, which, set to music by Clayton, had achieved
a run of three nights a few years before. The two
58 HANDEL
essayists joined forces for the purpose of crushing Rinaldo,
and the Spectator and Tatlej' did all that they could to
render it absurd and odious in the eyes of their readers.
One of the most famous of the Spectator's attacks upon
Rinaldo relates to the sparrows that were let loose in the
theatre during the performance of the air " Augelletti che
cantate." For the sufferings of the unfortunate birds
themselves the distinguished essayist manifested little
enough sympathy, though, as he said, " instead of perching
on the Trees and performing their parts, these young
actors either get into the Galleries or put out the Candles,"
but he professed great anxiety lest the poor little
creatures should remain in the theatre and become a
general nuisance. " It is feared," he observes, " that in
other plays they may make their Entrance in very wrong
and improper Scenes, so as to be seen flying in a Lady's
Bed-Chamber, or perching upon a King's Throne, besides
the Inconveniences which the Heads of the Audience may
sometimes suffer from them." The dragons in Rinaldo
and the mise-en-scene generally speaking, which seems to
have been unusually elaborate, came in for their share of
ridicule, and it is worth noting that it was the Spectator
which started the accusation against Handel, often after-
wards repeated, of revelling in noise for its own sake. At
the close of one of the Spectator essays ridiculing Rinaldo
there is a burlesque advertisement of a supposed new
opera, The Cruelty of Atrcjts, in which "the scene wherein
Thyestes eats his own Children is to be performed by the
famous M. Psalmanazar, lately arrived from Formosa, the
whole supper being set to Kettle-drums." But Rinaldo
rose superior to Addison's raillery. It was revived in
17 1 2, with Nicolini still in the principal part, and was
given again in 17 15 and 17 17. Even so late as 173 1 it
HANDEL'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 59
had not exhausted its popularity. Nor were its triumphs
confined to England. It was performed at Hamburg
with great success in 171 5, and at Naples in 17 17.
During his stay in London, Handel's duties at the
opera-house seemed to have monopolised him almost
entirely. He gave no concerts, but it is highly probable
that he played at the houses of some of the great dilettanti
of the day. We have a glimpse of him at Sir John
Stanley's, who was uncle to little Mary Granville, after-
wards the well-known Mrs. Delany. The latter writes in
her autobiography: "In the year 1710 I first saw Mr.
Handel, who was introduced to my uncle Stanley by Mr.
Heidegger. We had no better instrument in the house
than a little spinet of mine, on which that great musician
performed wonders." The friendship so begun lasted
all Handel's lifetime. In later years Handel was a
frequent visitor at Mrs. Delany's house, and would play
to her for hours at a time. Musical life in London was
of course very different from what it is now, but still
concerts were given from time to time, and it is a little
curious that Handel did not think it worth while to
give one himself, especially as personal popularity was
evidently much harder to win in England than in Italy.
The success of Agrippitta in Venice raised the composer
at once to the rank of a hero, but in London, even after
the triumph of Rijtaldo, Handel often found life something
of a struggle. The following advertisement from the
Daily Courant gives a specimen of the sort of concert
that was popular in London at the time : " For the benefit
of Signiora Lody on Tuesday, 24th April 171 1, at Hume's
Dancing School in Frith Street, Soho, will be a Consort
of Vocal and Instrumental Musick ; a new Cantata with
a solo on the Harpsichord, performed by Mr. Babell
6o HANDEL
Junior, with a Variety of Concertos and other pieces com-
posed and performed by Mr, Corbett and other of the
best Masters, beginning at 7 o'clock." Handel himself
may not impossibly have attended this very concert, since
Rinaldo was that week performed on Wednesday the
25th instead of the usual Tuesday, — Tuesday and Saturday
were the ordinary opera nights, — and if so it was in all
likelihood the playing of Babell, who was the most noted
performer upon the harpsichord in London, that drew
from him the observation that when he first went to
London there were very few good composers there but
plenty of good players.
But the most famous concerts in London at that time
were the weekly reunions of Thomas Britton, the small-
coal man, which took place every Thursday in a loft " not
much higher than a Canary Pipe, with a window but very
little bigger than the Bunghole of a Cask," ^ over his coal-
cellar in Clerkenwell. Britton's career was a remarkable
one, especially at a time when music was a slave to the
odious and degrading system of patronage, and most
musicians lived in a slough of complacent flunkeydom.
Britton plied his sooty trade by day, hawking coal about
the streets of London. In the evening, washed, clothed
and in his right mind, he gathered his friends about him,
and discoursed sweet music, being himself a notable per-
former upon the viol da gamba. Gradually his concerts
became famous. The leading lights of musical London,
Dr. Pepusch, Banister the violinist, John Hughes the
author of The Siege of Damascus, who was a musician as
well as a poet, and many others, took their parts in sonatas
and concertos. Britton became the fashion. Visitors to
London were taken to make his acquaintance as a matter
^ Ward, Secret History of Chibs, 1709.
HANDEL'S FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 6\
of course. Thoresby, the diarist, records a visit, when he
heard " a noble concert of music, vocal and instrumental,
the best in town." ^ Matthew Prior sang of him : —
" Though doom'd to small coal, yet to arts allied ;
Rich without wealth, and famous without pride."
Duchesses crawled up the crazy ladder leading to his
concert room, which was celebrated by the doggerel poet
Ned Ward, a near neighbour and intimate friend of
Britton's : —
" Upon Thursdays repair
To my palace, and there
Hobble up stair by stair ;
But I pray ye take care
That you break not your shin by a stumble.^
Thither Handel often repaired, according to Hawkins,
playing both harpsichord and organ, and directing the
performance, to the delight of the audience, who, as Ward
vivaciously observed, were " willing to take a hearty Sweat
that they might have the Pleasure of hearing many notable
Performances in the charming Science of Musick."
Handel left London for Hanover soon after the con-
clusion of the opera season, on the 2nd of June 171 1. On
his way he stopped at Dtisseldorf, where his old friend
and patron the Elector Palatine was as delighted as ever
to welcome him. How long Handel stayed at Dusseldorf
cannot now be ascertained, but it is plain that he must
have begun to be a little anxious as to what the Elector
of Hanover would think of his prolonged absence, for a
couple of letters from the Elector Palatine, dated the 17th
of June, have recently come to light,^ one addressed to the
^ Ralph Thoresby, Diary, vol. ii.
^ Ward, Secret History of Clubs, 1709.
^ Zeitschrift der Internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft, Bd. viii. p. 277.
62 HANDEL
Elector of Hanover and the other to the old Electress
Sophia, in which he apologises for keeping Handel "a
few days," and explains that he is only doing so in order
to show him some instruments, and get his opinion about
them. Presumably the apology was accepted, and Handel
settled down to his quiet life at Hanover without any
uncomfortable questions being asked about his long
holiday. At that time there was no opera at Hanover,
and his energies were confined to chamber music. He
had at his disposal an orchestra of eighteen musicians,
for whom he probably wrote some of his hautboy con-
certos. He also composed a set of thirteen chamber
duets, some German songs and a few harpsichord pieces.^
The duets were written for the Princess Caroline, wife of
Prince George, the Elector's son, afterwards George II,
They show the influence of Steffani, who was an acknow-
ledged master of the genre. Caroline of Ansbach was
one of Handel's best and kindest friends, and he repaid
her regard with warm gratitude and admiration. It is
more than probable that they met as children at Berlin,
for, when Handel visited the Prussian court as a juvenile
prodigy in 1696, Caroline was actually living in Berlin
under the care of her guardian, the Elector Frederick,
and his wife, Sophia Charlotte. Caroline imbibed Sophia
Charlotte's artistic tastes, and was always a devoted
patron of music. She seems to have been no mean per-
former too. Leibniz, who heard her sing a duet with the
Hereditary Princess of Cassel, said that she sang very
correctly and had a marvellous voice,^ and the Archduke
Charles, who used to play her accompaniments, lost his
heart so completely to the fair musician that, but for her
^ Fischer, Ope^-n tmd Coitcerte im Hoftheater zu Hanttove}-,
2 Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 105.
HANDEKS FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND 63
objections to the Roman Catholic religion, she might have
been Empress of Germany.^ The records of this period
of Handel's career are sadly meagre, but we know from
a letter of his written in July to Andreas Roner, a
German musician who lived in London, that he spent some
of his spare time in working at English ; and a message to
John Hughes, with a request for a poem to set to music,
shows that he retained friendly recollections of his friends
in London.^ In the autumn of 17 11 he paid a visit to his
relatives at Halle, and on November 23 stood godfather
to his sister's daughter, Johanna Frederica, who was
nominated as his residuary legatee in the will of 1750.
After this we know nothing of his movements until a year
later, when he obtained leave of absence from the Elector
of Hanover on condition that he resumed his duties within
a reasonable time. He left at once for London, where he
arrived some time in the autumn of 17 12.
^ " Briefe der Konigin Sophie Charlotte von Preussen." {Publikationen
aus den K. Pretissischen Staatsarchiven, vol. Ixxix. p. 57-)
^ Hughes, Correspondence, Dublin, 1773, vol. i. p. 39.
CHAPTER V
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND
1712-1717
HANDEL found changes in the musical world
of London. Since his departure opera had
languished, and the production in English of Galliard's
Calypso did little to restore the falling fortunes of the art.
Aaron Hill had given place to an adventurer named
MacSwiney, who now ruled the destinies of the Queen's
Theatre. For him Handel wrote a new opera, // Pastor
Fido, to a libretto by Rossi, inferior in every way to that
of Rinaldo. II Pastor Fido was produced on the 26th
November 17 12, but in spite of the composer's popularity
it won little success. The public missed Nicolini, who
had left England in the summer, and the singing of his
successor, Valeriano Pellegrini, who had sung in Handel's
Agrippina three years before, did not make amends for
the absence of the favourite. // Pastor Fido was only
given six times. Far greater success attended Handel's
Teseo, written to a libretto by Nicola Haym, which was
produced on January loth, 171 3. Its triumphant career
was hardly checked by the failure and flight of the
egregious MacSwiney, who, after Teseo had been given
twice, disappeared from the scene, leaving his bills un-
settled and his singers unpaid. The latter determined to
64
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND 65
carry on the season as best they could, and as a matter
of fact it endured until the 30th May, under the manage-
ment of the famous " Swiss Count," Heidegger. Teseo
was played twelve times, the last performance being a
benefit for Handel, probably arranged to compensate him
for MacSwiney's non-fulfilment of his liabilities. At this
performance, Handel gave between the acts of the opera
" an entertainment for the harpsichord," the forerunner of
many similar displays of virtuosity.
Heidegger, who was one of the most prominent figures
in London life during a large part of the eighteenth century,
had so much to do with Handel that there is every excuse
for lingering a moment over him and his fortunes. He
was a native of Zurich, and appeared in London about the
year 1708. His own story was that he came upon a
diplomatic mission, but failing in his errand was com-
pelled to enlist in the Guards. How he managed to win
admittance to the councils of the Queen's Theatre is not
known, but in 1709 he had a good deal to do with the pro-
duction of Thomy7'is, and from that time forth he played
a leading part in the management of opera in London.
His engaging manners soon established him in the favour
of the aristocracy, and he became a sort of arbiter
elega^itiarum in the world of art and fashion. The
" Swiss Count," as he was always called, was an unusually
ugly man, and his misshapen features furnished the wits
of his time with an inexhaustible subject for mirth. The
taste in humour of the eighteenth century was somewhat
primitive, and Heidegger, whose business was to get on
in life, threw self-respect to the winds, and encouraged
every sort of joke at his own expense. He once laid a
wager with Lord Chesterfield that, within a given time,
his lordship would not be able to produce so hideous a
5
66 HANDEL
face in all London. After a strict search, an old woman
was found, who at first sight was judged uglier even than
Heidegger. The " Swiss Count," however, seized her
head-dress, and putting it on himself was at once
acclaimed the winner. Clever as he was, he was badly
scored off on another occasion by the facetious Duke of
Montagu, whose taste for practical joking was extensive
and peculiar.^ Montagu invited Heidegger to dinner, and,
in concert with half a dozen other congenial spirits, made
him so drunk that he was carried unconscious to bed. A
cast of his face was then taken, and a wax mask con-
structed. At the next masquerade given by Heidegger at
the opera-house a man was dressed up in a suit of his
clothes, disguised in the mask, and smuggled into the
orchestra. Heidegger was got out of the way under some
pretext, and, on the entrance of George li and his mistress,
the Countess of Yarmouth, his double bade the musicians
strike up the well-known Jacobite tune, " Charlie over the
water." The confusion and excitement were immense,
but the King took the joke in good part and, when the
real Heidegger flew back in consternation and was con-
fronted by his double, laughed more than any one at the
absurdity of the situation. Incidents such as this only
served to increase Heidegger's popularity, and ere long he
was able to retire to his house at Richmond with an ample
fortune. " I was born a Swiss," he is reported to have
said in a discussion as to the respective merits of the
several European nations, " and came to England without
^ He never seems to have outgrown it. In 1740 his mother-in-law, the
old Duchess of Marlborough, wrote of him: "All his talents lie in things
only natural in boys of fifteen years old, and he is about two-and-fifty ; to
get people into his garden and wet them with squirts, and to invite people to
his country houses and put things into their beds to make them itch, and
twenty such pretty fancies like these." Private Correspondence, vol. ii.
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND 6^
a farthing, where I have found means to gain five thousand
pounds a year, and to spend it. Now I defy the most
able Englishman to go to Switzerland and either to gain
that income or to spend it there."
During his first visit to London, Handel had made
many friends, who now contended for the honour of enter-
taining him. His first visit was to a Mr. Andrews, of
Barn-Elms in Surrey, who also possessed a town house
where Handel had a suite of apartments. Here he stayed
some months, moving to his friend Lord Burlington's
palace in Piccadilly before the end of the year. Handel's
life at Burlington House has been well described by
Hawkins : " Into this hospitable mansion was Handel
received, and left at liberty to follow the dictates of his
genius and invention, assisting frequently at evening
concerts, in which his own music made the most consider-
able part. The course of his studies during three years'
residence at Burlington House was very regular and
uniform ; his mornings were employed in study, and at
dinner he sat down with men of the first eminence for
genius and abilities of any in the kingdom. Here he
frequently met Pope, Gay, Dr. Arbuthnot, and others of
that class ; the latter was able to converse with him on
his art, but Pope understood not, neither had he the least
ear or relish for music — and he was honest enough to
confess it. When Handel had no particular engagements,
he frequently went in the afternoon to St. Paul's Church,
where Mr. Greene, though he was not then organist, was
very assiduous in his civilities to him ; by him he was
introduced to, and made acquainted with, the principal
performers in the choir. The truth is, that Handel was
very fond of the St. Paul's organ, built by Father Smith,
which was then almost a new instrument. Brind was
68 HANDEL
then the organist, and no very celebrated performer. The
tone of the instrument delighted Handel, and a little
entreaty was at any time sufficient to prevail on him to
touch it ; but after he had ascended the organ-loft it was
with reluctance that he left it, and he has been known,
after evening service, to play to an audience as great as
ever filled the choir. After his performance was over, it
was his practice to adjourn with the principal persons
of the choir to the Queen's Arms Tavern in St. Paul's
Churchyard, where was a great room, with a harpsichord
in it, and oftentimes an evening was there spent in music
and musical conversation."
Hawkins' facts are doubtless correct, but his chronology
seems to be a little shaky. The nodes coenaeque deorum
that he describes must belong to a later date. In 171 2
Lord Burlington was only seventeen years old — rather an
early age for a youth, however precocious, to be entertain-
ing a circle of wits. As a matter of fact, his acquaintance
with Gay does not seem to have begun till 1715, when the
poet celebrated his young patron in Trivia : ^ —
"Yet Burlington's fair Palace still remains;
Beauty within, without proportion reigns.
Beneath his Eye declining Art revives,
The Wall with animated Picture lives ;
There Handel strikes the strings, the melting strain
Transports the Soul and thrills through every vein."
Burlington does not appear in Pope's correspondence
until 17 18, when Pope wrote to Martha Blount: "I am
to pass three or four days in high luxury, with some
company, at my Lord Burlington's. We are to walk
ride, ramble, dine, drink, and lie together. His gardens
^ Trivia -was published in January 1716. See Gay's Works, Muses
Library, vol. i. p. xxxvii.
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND 69
are delightful, his music ravishing."^ In the same year
Pope established himself at Chiswick " under the wing of
my Lord Burlington," with whom he was by that time on
intimate terms, if we may judge by Gay's Journey to
Exeter : —
"While you, my Lord, bid stately piles ascend
And in your Chiswick bowers enjoy your friend ;
Where Pope unloads the bough within his reach,
The purple vine, blue plum, and blushing peach."
However, it is likely enough that Handel was staying
in Burlington House in the autumn of 17 12. He may
very well have been invited thither by the Dowager
Countess, who was a great patroness of music, — the
English version of Gasparini's Antiochus, which was pro-
duced in 17 1 1, was dedicated to her, — and the fact that
Teseo was dedicated to Lord Burlington implies some
kind of connection between Handel and the young
dilettante.
Rinaldo and Teseo gave Handel a position in the
musical world of London far more commanding than
that of any native-born composer, and there is nothing
surprising in his being chosen to write an ode in celebra-
tion of Queen Anne's birthday, or to compose the festival
Te Deum and Jubilate which were sung at the service
commemorating the Peace of Utrecht. It is possible,
too, that in the selection of Handel for so keenly coveted
a position we may trace the friendly influence of Lady
Burlington, who was one of the Queen's Ladies of the
Bed-Chamber. The Birthday Ode was performed on
the 6th of February 17 13, probably in the Chapel Royal
St. James's, and the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate at
St. Paul's on the 7th of July following. The Queen was
^ Pope, Works, Elwin's edition, vol. ix. p. 264.
70 HANDEL
not well enough to be present at the latter service, but
she heard Handel's music later at St. James's, and con-
ferred upon him a pension of i^200. Meanwhile, his
duties at the court of Hanover summoned him in vain.
The " reasonable time " for which he had received leave
of absence had long since expired, yet still Rinaldo
lingered in the enchanted gardens of Armida. Not only
was Handel playing truant in the most unwarrantable
fashion, but he was spending his time in the manner of
all others most surely calculated to displease the Elector :
accepting favours from Queen Anne, who lost no oppor-
tunity of showing her dislike of everything connected
with Hanover, and celebrating the Peace of Utrecht,
which the German confederate powers viewed with the
utmost disapproval. It was no wonder, therefore, that
when George I succeeded to the throne of England,
on the sudden death of Queen Anne in August 1714,
Handel did not dare to present himself at the court of
St. James's, but waited quietly in the security of Burlington
House to see what turn events would take. It was
probably about this time that he wrote Silla, a work
much slighter in scope than any of his previous operas
which may have been designed for a private performance
at Burlington House, though no record of its production
exists. The confusion which had reigned at the opera-
house in the Haymarket since the flight of MacSwiney
probably deterred Handel from contributing to its re-
pertory, but in 171 5 he once more tempted fortune with
Amadigi, an opera conceived upon a scale at least as
imposing as that of Rinaldo, and written to a libretto
by Heidegger, who dedicated it to Lord Burlington in
terms which make it certain that the music was composed
by Handel at Burlington House. Nicolini, who had re-
HANDEUS SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND 71
turned to England in 1714, appeared as the hero, and the
part of Oriana was sung by the celebrated Anastasia
Robinson, afterwards Countess of Peterborough, whose
romantic love-story not long since formed the foundation of
Mr. George Meredith's novel, Lord Ormont and Jiis Aininta.
Amadigi was produced on the 25th of May, so late
in the season that a long run was out of the question.
Its success, however, was beyond dispute, and it received
the compliment of parody at the theatres both of Drury
Lane and Lincoln's Inn Fields. The scenery was so
unusually elaborate that spectators were not allowed
upon the stage, as had been customary, and a special
by-law with regard to encores was issued by the manage-
ment to this effect : " Whereas by the frequent calling
for the songs again, the operas have been too tedious ;
therefore the singers are forbidden to sing any song above
once ; and it is hoped nobody will call for 'em, or take
it ill when not obeyed."
Meanwhile, in spite of all that his friends could urge
in his behalf, Handel was still an exile from court. King
George, who liked going to the opera,andeven condescended
to act as godfather to the infant son of Mme. Durastanti,
heard Amadigi but refused to pardon the composer. But
a means of reconciliation was devised by Lord Burlington
in conjunction with Handel's old friend Baron Kielmansegg,
who was now the King's Master of the Horse and a
personage of great consideration, though this was due
less perhaps to his own merits than to the fact that his
wife, " the Elephant," as she was nicknamed, shared with
Mile. Schulenburg — "the Maypole" — the King's most
intimate favour.^
^ It is now the fashion to regard Baroness Kiehnansegg as a much
maligned person, and a most determined attempt to whitewash her character
72 HANDEL
The river Thames was then, far more than now, one
of the main highways of London. It was still Spenser's
" silver Thames," and on a summer's day it must have
presented a picture of life and gaiety very different from
its present melancholy and deserted aspect. It was
peopled by an immense fleet of boats devoted solely to
passenger traffic, which were signalled by passing way-
farers from numerous piers between Blackfriars and
Putney, just as one now signals a hansom or taxi-cab.
Besides the humble boats that plied for hire, there were
plenty of private barges fitted up with no little luxury,
and manned by liveried servants. The manners and
customs of the boatmen were peculiar, and their wit-
combats, carried on in the rich and expressive vernacular
of Billingsgate, were already proverbial. However, no
one seems to have minded. On the water liberty reigned
has recently been made by her descendant, Baron Erich von Kielmansegg, in
his edition of the correspondence of Ernest Augustus, George I's youngest
brother. She was undoubtedly George's half-sister, being the daughter of
his father's mistress Countess Platen, but those who know what was the
standard of morality at the Hanoverian court will require a more cogent
argument than this to convince them, in the teeth of all contemporary opinion,
that George's relations with the Baroness were purely fraternal. Undoubtedly
she was extremely unpopular in England — more, it is to be feared, because
she was ugly, rapacious, and a foreigner than from any very exalted ideas upon
the subject of morality. There is a story that one day when she was driving
abroad, soon after her arrival in England, the mob became abusive, where-
upon she put her head out of the window and cried in shocking English :
" Good people, why do you abuse us ? We come for all your goods." " Ay,
damn ye," answered a fellow in the crowd, "and for all our chattels too."
Horace Walpole's description of this atrocious harpy is worth transcribing :
" I remember as a boy being terrified at her enormous figure. Two fierce
black eyes, large and rolling beneath two lofty arched eyebrows, two acres
of cheeks spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed and was
not distinguished from the lower part of her body, and no part restrained by
stays — no wonder that a child dreaded such an ogress ! "
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND 73
supreme. There was a tacit understanding that things
were there permitted which in the prosaic sobriety of the
streets would have savoured of indecorum. George I
Hked the river. When the court was at Whitehall
water-parties to Richmond or Hampton Court were of fre-
quent occurrence, and as often as not the royal barge
was accompanied by an attendant boat laden with
musicians.^
Taking advantage of the King's taste for music, and
of the recognised aquatic licence already referred to,
Kielmansegg and Burlington bade Handel compose a
suite of gay dance movements, hired a competent orchestra,
and arranged that on the occasion of the next royal
water-party — possibly that mentioned by the Flying
Post, soon after the King's coronation, when, George I
and his court rowed from Whitehall to Limehouse, and
"were diverted by a concert of music on board, which
was elegantly performed by the best masters and instru-
ments"— Handel and his musicians should follow the
King's barge, discoursing the famous composition which
ever since has been known as the Water Music.^ The
^ Aquatic serenades of this kind were popular at the time. There is a
description of one in Mrs. Delany's Correspondence (vol. i. p. ^o)•. "Last
Wednesday I was all night upon the water with Lady Harriot Harley. We
went into the barge at five in the afternoon and landed at Whitehall Stairs.
We rowed up the river as far as Richmond, and were entertained all the time
with very good musick in another barge. The concert was composed of
three hautboys, two bassoons, flute allemagne, and young Grenoc's {sic)
trumpet.
2 The evidence to prove that the Water Music was composed in 17 1 5 is
almost overwhelming. At the same time it is interesting to know that a very
similar performance took place two years later, which is recorded in the
Daily Courattt of 19th July 1717 : "On Wednesday evening (July 17) at
about eight the King took water at Whitehall in an open barge, wherein
were also the Duchess of Bolton, the Duchess of Newcastle, the Countess of
74 HANDEL
plot succeeded ; the King was pleased, and asked the
name of the composer, which gave Kielmansegg an
opportunity of pleading his friend's cause. George was
in a melting mood, and felt that Handel had endured
exile from his sacred presence long enough. The com-
poser was summoned from the neighbouring barge and
duly forgiven.
Handel made his first appearance at a court concert
shortly afterwards, at the special request of another old
friend, Geminiani the violinist, who had recently estab-
lished himself in London. Geminiani was notoriously
difficult to accompany. Burney says that he lost the
post of leader of the opera-band at Naples because " none
Godolphin, Madam Kilmanseck, and the Earl of Orkney, and went up the
river towards Chelsea. Many other barges with persons of quality attended,
and so great a number of boats, that the whole river in a manner was covered.
A City Company's barge was employed for the music, wherein were fifty
instruments of all sorts, who played all the way from Lambeth, while the
barges drove with the tide without rowing as far as Chelsea, the finest
symphonies, composed express for this occasion by Mr. Hendel, which His
Majesty liked so well that he caused it to be played over three times in going
and returning. At eleven his Majesty went ashore at Chelsea, where a
supper was prepared, and then there was another very fine consort of music,
which lasted till two, after which His Majesty came again into his barge and
returned the same way, the music continuing to play until he landed."
Another account, in The Political State of Great Britain, mentions that the
music was under the direction of Baron Kielmansegg. When Chrysander
wrote the first volume of his biography of Handel in 1858 he followed the
contemporary authorities in attributing the Water Music to the year 17 15.
In 1867, however, in his third volume, in discussing Handel's instrumental
works he seems inclined to think that it was actually performed for the first
time in I7l7' Twenty years later ( Vierteljahrsschrift fiir Mttsikwissen-
schaft, Jahrg. iii., 1887) he recanted his heresy, and returned to his original
opinion. It is quite possible that the Water Music as we now know it was
not all written for the same occasion. Its twenty-five numbers may very
well represent Handel's share in numerous water-parties. It should be
remembered that the Water Music was not published until 1740.
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND 75
of the performers were able to follow him in his tempo
rubato," and Tartini christened him "il furibondo
Geminiani," He had written some new concertos, which
he was anxious to perform, but he declared that nobody
but Handel could play the harpsichord part. It was a
case of no Handel, no concerto, and George I, nothing
loth, gave way. Handel was thus fully reinstated in the
royal favour, and the reconciliation was cemented by
the King's allotting him a pension of i^200, in addition
to that already given him by Queen Anne, A few years
later he received yet another pension of the same amount
from the Princess of Wales, his old friend and patroness
Caroline of Ansbach, on his appointment as music master
to her little daughters. This ^600 he continued to enjoy
for the rest of his life.
When George I landed in England, he frankly con-
fessed that he did not expect to stay long. The Jacobites
were powerful and determined, and he took up his
residence at St. James's in the full expectation of being
turned out bag and baggage at no distant date. At first
it seemed that his predictions were going to be fulfilled.
The King himself made no secret of his dislike for
England and everything English — even our oysters were
so different from the stale ones to which he was
accustomed at Hanover that they had to be kept for
a day or two to suit his palate. He was unpopular, his
mistresses were more unpopular still, and the crowd of
hungry " Hanoverian rats," as the people called them,
who settled upon the court and country and snatched all
the best places from under the noses of English aspirants,
brought the new dynasty into general disfavour. But as
time passed on, his position grew more secure. The
English people as a whole cared very little who ruled
76 HANDEL
them, so long as they were let alone, and the Hanoverian
dynasty was probably as good or as bad as another.
The Jacobite rising of 171 5 collapsed, the Septennial
Act was passed, and in the summer of 17 16 George
thought he might allow himself a holiday and pay a
visit to his beloved Hanover. On the eve of his departure
he held a Drawing-room. " The King in mighty good
humour," wrote Lady Cowper. " When I wished him a good
journey and a quick return, he looked as if the last part
of my speech was needless, and that he did not think
of it." George set out for Hanover on 9th July 17 16,
accompanied by a numerous suite, including both his
mistresses and his Kapellmeister Handel. Hanover
received them with open arms, and George put aside the
splendid dulness and wearisome etiquette of St. James's
with delight, and settled down to his pipes and his beer
and his snuffy clothes with the utmost relief.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who stopped at Hanover
for a short time on her way to Constantinople, found it
v-ery gay and very crowded. " The King," she wrote,
" has had the goodness to appoint us a lodging in the
palace, without which we should be very ill accommodated,
for the vast number of English crowds the town so much,
it is very good luck to be able to get one sorry room in
a miserable tavern. . . . The King's company of French
comedians play here every night. They are very well
dressed, and some of them not ill actors. His Majesty
dines and sups constantly in public. The court is very
numerous, and his affability and goodness make it one
of the most agreeable places in the world." The success
of the French comedians seems to have left no room for
opera, and Handel must have found time hang heavy on
his hands. He amused himself by setting to music a
HANDEL'S SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND ^y
poetical version of the story of the Passion by Barthold
Brockes, a distinguished citizen of Hamburg, which had
already been set by Keiser, and was subsequently set by
Telemann and Mattheson.^ He also found time for a
visit to Halle, where his mother still lived. His old friend
Zachow was dead, and his widow, who was left in poor
circumstances, was thankful for the assistance that Handel
generously gave. His travels extended as far as Ansbach,
whither probably he went with some commission from the
Princess of Wales. There he found an old college friend,
Johann Christopher Schmidt, whom he induced to migrate
to London and to live with him as his secretary and
factotum. Schmidt had a son of thirteen in whom
Handel took a friendly interest, paying for his schooling,
and watching over him with almost paternal affection.
In due time the boy, who anglicised his name into Smith,
^ There is a good deal of uncertainty as to the genesis of Handel's Brockes
Passion. Mattheson says in his Ehren-Pforte that it was " composed in
England and sent by post to Hamburg in an uncommonly close-written score,"
but Mattheson's sketch of Handel's career is so thickly sown with inaccuracies
that it is difficult to put much faith in any of his statements. It is at least
probable that the fact of his being on German soil turned Handel's thoughts
in the direction of German oratorio, and the eulogies of Reiser's setting of
Brockes's Passion, which he must almost unavoidably have heard at Hanover,
may very well have tempted him to pay his old rival out in his own coin for
the impertinence of having re-set Abnira ten years before. Mr. P. Robinson,
in his recent work, Handel and his Orbit, inclines to the theory that Handel
wrote his Passion for performance in England before the German-speaking
King and his court. There has been a half-hearted attempt made in recent
years to whitewash George I, and to present him as a highly moral and
respectable person, but even his most devoted advocates have not ventured
to claim [much for him on the score of piety ; and the notion of the old
reprobate sitting in the Chapel Royal, with the "Elephant" and the
"Maypole" enthroned like cherubim, the one on his right hand and the
other on his left, snuffling in concert over the Passion music, is, to borrow
a phrase of Mr. Andrew Lang's, a little too steep !
78 HANDEL
succeeded his father as Handel's amanuensis, and later in
his career won considerable fame as a composer.
King George left for England on the 5th of January
17 1 7, and there is no reasonable ground for doubting that
Handel went with him. There was nothing for him to
do at Hanover, and his presence was urgently needed in
London, where a revival of Rinaldo took place on the very
day he left Hanover, while another of Amadigi v^^iS, close
at hand. He took with him his setting of the Brockes
Passion^ as it is usually called to distinguish it from the
John Passion written in 1704, had it copied in London,
and sent it to Hamburg, where it was performed in Lent
1717.
CHAPTER VI
CANONS AND THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF
MUSIC, 1718-1726
JAMES BRYDGES, first Duke of Chandos, was the
cynosure of his age. His splendour and extrava-
gance, his generosity and ostentation, made him the
talk of the town. As Paymaster to the British forces he
had amassed an immense fortune, by means which Swift
branded in the famous line —
" Since all he got by fraud he lost by stocks,"
and he signalised his retirement by building the magnifi-
cent palace of Canons, close to the village of Edgware,
where he lived in regal state surrounded by crowds of
lackeys and parasites. Everything at Canons was in the
grand style. Pope, who satirised Chandos in his Epistle
to Lord Burlington, made fun of the princely owner's
megalomania : —
" To compass this, his building is a town,
His pond an ocean, his parterre a down,"
and ridiculed the tasteless magnificence that reigned
in every corner. But humbler mortals bowed before
splendour so profuse. Defoe's fluent vocabulary scarcely
served to sing the praises of Canons.^ " It is in vain,"
he wrote, " to attempt to describe the beauties of this
^ Tour in England, 1725, vol. ii.
79
8o HANDEL
building; and as the Firmament is a glorious Mantle
filled with, or as it were made up of a Concurrence of
lesser glories the stars, so every part of this Building
adds to the beauty of the whole." The Duke, if not
himself a musician, fully appreciated the importance of
music in adding to the dignity of every kind of ceremony.
His private chapel at Canons was a masterpiece of its
kind, designed in imitation of the fashionable baroque
Italian style, and painted with sprawling cherubs by
Bellucci and Zamen,^ and the music was worthy of its
shrine. Pope of course sneered at it : —
"And now the Chapel's silver bell you hear,
That summons you to all the pride of prayer ;
Light quirks of music, broken and uneven,
Make the soul dance upon a jig to Heaven."
But Pope was notoriously ignorant of music, and other
authorities give a very different account. Defoe says :
" The Chapel is a singularity not only in its building and
the beauty of its workmanship, but in this also, that the
Duke maintains there a full Choir, and has the Worship
performed there with the best musick, after the manner
of the Chapel Royal, which is not done in any other
Nobleman's Chapel in Britain, no not the Prince of
Wales's, though heir apparent to the Crown. Nor is this
Chapel only furnished with such excellent musick, but the
Duke has a set of them to entertain him every day at dinner."
It has often been said that when Canons was pulled
down, the chapel was left standing, and became the
parish church of Whitchurch, which still exists. This,
like so many other Handelian traditions which have been
religiously copied by one biographer from another, is a
piece of pure romance. The private chapel at Canons
1 Pope, Letter to Aaron Hill, 5th February 1732.
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 8 1
and the parish church of Whitchurch were two perfectly-
distinct buildings. Both are mentioned in A Joiivfiey
through England, 1722, vol. ii. : "The Chapel, which is
already furnished, hath a choir of Vocal and Instrumental
Musick. . . . The Front from the great stairs is to the
East, and hath an Avenue directly from it down to the
Parish Church, at above half a mile's distance." Another
baseless tradition relates to the organ in Whitchurch
Church, which bears the inscription : " Handel was organist
of this Church from the year 17 1 8 to 172 1, and composed
the oratorio of Esther on this organ."
It is scarcely necessary to observe that musicians do
not compose oratorios " on the organ," and even if Handel
had done so it would not have been on the Whitchurch
organ, but upon the fine Jordan organ in the private
chapel at Canons, which at the Chandos sale in 1747 was
purchased for Trinity Church, Gosport, where it may
still be seen, bearing the Chandos coat of arms. Yet
another tradition is concerned with the Duke himself
arid his third wife, whom he is alleged to have bought
from a groom who was ill-treating her. There is some
foundation for the story, though the hero of it was not
Handel's patron, but his son Henry, the second Duke.i
The princely Chandos, in music, as in everything else,
was determined to have the best that could be procured!
His choir and orchestra were carefully chosen, and he
made up his mind that the leader should be worthy ot
the forces at his disposal. His first musical director was
John Christopher Pepusch, a German musician who had
settled in London about the year 1690 and made a good
position for himself as a teacher. Pepusch was a capable
1 Robinson, The Princely Ckatzdos ; and Did. of Nat. Biog., sub voce
Brydges, James.
6
82 HANDEL
musician, but the divine fire seldom touched his lips, and
probably the Duke, like Mrs. Delany, soon found out
that his music was "very humdrum."^ At any rate, in
1718 he either resigned or was displaced in favour of
Handel, who finding that there was nothing to be done in
London in the way ot opera, of which the fickle world
of fashion seemed suddenly to have weaned, gladly
accepted the Duke's offer, left London to its French
ballets and farces, and established himself at Canons.
Handel's position at Canons corresponded with that
occupied by Haydn in the household of Prince Esterhazy
some years later, but Handel's duties did not apparently
include the supply of Tafelniusik required to aid his
patron's digestion. He seems to have written no
orchestral music at Canons, but his best energies were
devoted to the production of the magnificent series of
" Chandos " anthems, which were performed in the ducal
chapel with the utmost pomp and circumstance. A
setting of the Te Deum dates also from this period,
and — more important still — his first English oratorio,
Esther, and the serenata. Acts and Galatea. It is very
much to be regretted that so little is known of the
circumstances in which two works of such exceptional
importance in the history of Handel's musical develop-
ment were written and produced — Acis, the summing up,
as it were, of all that Italy had taught the composer ;
Esther, the first step upon the new pathway that was
ultimately to lead him to fame, fortune, and immortality.
It has been often stated that Esther was produced on
the 29th August 1720, but this is merely a conjecture.
What really happened at Canons on that date may be
read in the Weekly Journal for 3rd September 1720 :
^ Delany, Correspondence, vol. i.
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 83
" His Grace the Duke of Chandos's domestic Chapel, at
his seat at Canons, Edgware, curiously adorned with
paintings on the windows and ceilings, had Divine
Worship performed in it with an Anthem on Monday
last (29th August), it being the first time of its being
opened." It is scarcely possible that the " Anthem " in
question can have been Esther. Handel himself described
his new venture into the realm of oratorio as a masque,
and undoubtedly he intended that it should be performed
with scenery, dresses, and action — in fact precisely as it
was given in 1732 at Bernard Gates's house by the
children of the Chapel Royal. The idea of performing
an oratorio in ordinary concert form was a much later
development. The libretto of Esther, which is an
adaptation of Racine's famous drama, has been attributed
to a certain Samuel Humphreys, who wrote a dull poem
on Canons which he dedicated to the Duke of Chandos,
and later in his career supplied Handel with the librettos
of AtJialiah and Deboi-ah. It is more likely, however, that
it was the work of Pope, who at any rate never denied the
soft impeachment, though it is possible that Arbuthnot, to
whom it is ascribed in some of the early text-books, had a
hand in it. Acis, which was probably produced in 1721,
was the work of Handel's old friend Gay. The Burlington
circle thus had its share in the new development of Handel's
genius, and it is not too much to assume that the idea of
English oratorio took shape in the discussions around the
hospitable board of Handel's earliest English patron.
Handel's association with Canons did not cut him off
altogether from London life. Two of his letters written
in 1719 are dated from London: the one a courteous
refusal to contribute an autobiography to Mattheson's
Ehren-Pforte, and the other an affectionate letter of
84 HANDEL
sympathy to his brother-in-law Michaelsen, who had lost
his wife a short time before. It was, too, during his
residence at Canons that he was appointed music master
to the daughters of his old friend Caroline, the Princess
of Wales. There exists in the Buckingham Palace
Library a copy by Smith of a set of " Lessons composed
for the Princess Louisa," and it is more than possible that
the famous Suites de Pieces pour le Clavecin, which were
published in November 1720, owe their origin to the neces-
sities of Handel's royal pupils. Many fair fingers must have
itched to play the pieces that the illustrious young ladies
were daily strumming in their schoolroom in Leicester
Fields, and the musical pirates of the day were equal to the
occasion. In his preface to the first edition, Handel observed
that he had been " obliged to publish some of the following
lessons, because surreptitious and incorrect copies of them
had got abroad," adding with his habitual courtliness that
he reckoned it his duty with his small talent to serve a
nation from which he had received so generous a protection.
One of the pieces is the famous air with variations
now universally known as " The Harmonious Blacksmith,"
which has probably occasioned the writing of more
nonsense than any other musical composition in the world.
The origin of the foolish nickname is unknown, but it
certainly dates from long after Handel's time. The
earliest known edition on which it appears was published
in 1820. The title is obviously a publisher's catch-penny
invention, like that affixed with the same wantonness to
Beethoven's so-called " Moonlight " sonata. There is not
a shadow of foundation for the absurd stories that have
been fabricated in order to account for the name, but they
have been copied and repeated so often by men who
ought to have known better, that it is probably useless at
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 8 5
this time of day to attempt to explode them. Follies ot
this kind die hard, and the legend of Handel's friend, the
blacksmith of Edgware, with his hammer, anvil, and
other appurtenances, baseless fabric of a vision as it is,
will probably live until the cloud-capped towers of Handel's
fame themselves dissolve and leave not a rack behind.
Handel lived a busy life at this time. He had duties
in London as well as at Canons, and he must have learnt
to know every tree on the Edgware Road by heart.
Travelling in those days, though more tedious than at
present, had a spice of excitement which is denied to us.
Here, for instance, is a specimen incident of the time,
recorded by the Weekly Journal of the 1 1 th of February
1720, of which it is quite possible that Handel himself was
a witness : " On Monday as the Duke of Chandos was
riding to his beautiful house at Edgware, and being before
his retinue some distance, two highwaymen came up and
bid him deliver his money, but his servants coming in
view fired their pistols, as did the highwaymen, but neither
hurt or killed. One of the highwaymen quitted his horse
and jumped over the hedge, and was followed by one of
the Duke's servants, who knocked him down and took
him, and the other was pursued to Tyburn and there
taken. Both were committed to Newgate."
Early in 17 19 the town, which had contrived to get
through two years without an opera, save for an attempt
at a season of English opera conducted by Owen
MacSwiney at the Little Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields,
suddenly awoke to a sense of its deprivation. The South
Sea Bubble was in the heyday of its success, and com-
pany promoting was in the air. Following the fashion of
the day, a number of the nobility and gentry put their
heads together and founded the Royal Academy of Music,
86 HANDEL
which, in spite of its high-sounding name, was only a
company for the production of Italian opera at the King's
Theatre in the Haymarket. The capital subscribed was
;^50,ooo, in 500 shares of £100, and the King headed the list
with ^1000. The company was ruled by a governor, deputy
governor, and twenty directors. The first year the Duke of
Newcastle was governor, Lord Bingley deputy governor,
and the directors, of whom Lord Burlington was naturally
one, were chosen from the finest flower of rank and fashion.
The Academy started with the brightest promise.
Everything was to be the best of its kind. Handel
naturally headed the list of musical directors, and
with him were associated Giovanni Maria Bononcini, a
brother of the Marcantonio whose Camilla had proved
so much to the taste of London audiences, and Attilio
Ariosti. Paolo Rolli and Nicola Haym were appointed
poets to the establishment, and Heidegger was the stage
manager. It was a curious fate that thus put Handel
into the company of the two men with whom, if an oft-
repeated legend is true, he had been thrust into rivalry
in Berlin some years before. The omen was not favour-
able, but no gloomy forebodings troubled the sanguine
promoters of the new scheme. Handel was at once
dispatched to the Continent to enlist a nc.v company of
singers. He left London at the end of February 17 19,
journeying first to Diisseldorf, where he engaged Benedetto
Baldassarri, and then proceeding to Dresden, where the
opera was at that time particularly good. There he
secured the services of Senesino, the most famous castrato
of the age, a worthless man but a marvellous artist ; of
Signora Durastanti, who had sung in Agrippina at Venice
in 1709; of Boschi, the well-known bass, and of several
others. Business over, he turned to pleasure, and paid a
l',,"'|iiiii;i'ii^/ I'l'-ijuii^'
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 87
visit to his mother at Halle. While he was there he might,
had fate been propitious, have made the acquaintance
of Johann Sebastian Bach, who at that time graced
the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. Bach,
hearing that his famous contemporary was actually stay-
ing within forty miles, journeyed to Halle in order to
meet him. But he had given Handel no warning of his
intended visit, and when he reached Halle, he found
that Handel had set out for England the day before.
Bach's disappointment was doubtless great, but ours may
be tempered by the reflection that had the two men met, no
record of their conversation would probably have been pre-
served, or that if it had it would doubtless have been as
little worthy of so unique an occasion as was the famous
interview between Jackson and Nansen on the ice-floes of
Franz Josef Land. They might, however, have compared
notes as to their respective impressions of the court of
Dresden, where Handel had just been presented with the
handsome sum of a hundred ducats for playing the harp-
sichord to the King and Crown Prince ; whereas Bach,
who a year before had vanquished the French performer
Marchand in single combat, was swindled out of his fee
by a knavish courtier. Handel might have amused Bach,
too, by telling him how his independent manners had
shocked the aristocratic flunkeys at Dresden. A certain
Count von Flemming, in particular, seems to have had
his feelings sadly outraged. Writing to Melusine von
Schulenburg,^ who was a pupil of Handel's, he observes
^ Melusine von Schulenburg was a daughter of George I's notorious mistress,
the Duchess of Kendal. In 1733 she married the famous Lord Chesterfield,
whose biographer, Dr. Maty, Principal Librarian of the British Museum, observes
that " her amiableness of character, the accomplishments of her mind, her taste
for the fine arts, and in particular for music, rendered her a fit companion for
Lord Chesterfield." {Miscellaneous Works of Lord Chesterfield, \']']'j,-^o\. i. p. 71.)
88 HANDEL
querulously : " I tried to get a word with Mr. Handel, and
to pay him some civility for your sake, but I could do
nothing. I used your name in inviting him to come to
see me, but he was always out or else ill. To tell the
truth, I think he is a little mad ! " ^
Handel returned in due course to London, where about
this time he established himself in the house in Brook
Street, which remained his home for the rest of his life.^ On
the 2nd of April 1720 the Royal Academy of Music opened
its campaign with Giovanni Porta's Niunitore^ a useful
stop-gap, which served to keep the subscribers amused until
the great novelty of the season, Handel's Radamisto, was
ready. The latter aroused an unusual amount of interest.
While the rehearsals were in progress it was the favourite
topic of the coffee-houses, and it drew an epigram from
the great Sir Isaac Newton. Dr. Stukeley, the celebrated
antiquary, records in his diary a meeting with the famous
philosopher, then in extreme old age: ''April 18, — At the
Lincolnshire Feast, Ship Tavern, Temple Bar, — present.
Sir Isaac Newton. Upon my mentioning to him the
rehearsal of the opera to-night {Radamisto), he said he
never was at more than one opera. The first act he heard
with pleasure, the second stretched his patience, at the
third he ran away."^ Radamisto, after a postponement
" by Royal Command," was finally produced with great
pomp and circumstance on the 27th of April. All London
turned out to do honour to the popular composer, and to
criticise the new singers. As a matter of fact, neither
' Opel, Rlittheilungeit zur Geschichte der Familie Handel.
" Handel's name first appears in the rate books of St. George's, Hanover
Square, in 1725, but some years ago Dr. W. H. Cummings, while examining
the house, discovered a fine cast-lead cistern, on the firont of which was the
inscription, " 1721 G.F.H."
^ William Stukeley, Family Memoirs [Surtees Society], vol. i. p. 59.
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 89
Senesino nor Durastanti sang in the original production
of Radamisto, though both appeared in a revival of it a
few months later. An entry in Lady Cowper's diary gives
a curt memorandum of the event. " At night Radamistus,
a fine opera of Handel's making. The King there with
his ladies. The Prince in the stage-box. Great crowd."
The crowd was great indeed, and Mainwaring's descrip-
tion of the scene sounds like a prophetic vision of the
riotous frenzy that accompanied the Jenny Lind furore
more than a century later : " There was no shadow of
form or ceremony, scarce indeed any appearance of order
or regularity, politeness or decency. Many, who had
forced their way into the house with an impetuosity but
ill suited to their rank and sex, actually fainted through
the excessive heat and closeness of it. Several gentlemen
were turned back, who had offered forty shillings for a seat
in the gallery, after having despaired of getting any in the
pit or boxes." Radamisto carried the opera on to the end
of the season, and in the following autumn Senesino
appeared for the first time in Bononcini's Astarto,
Bononcini's pretty tunes and Senesino's marvellous
voice ^ between them captivated the ear of the public.
Astarto ran for something like thirty nights, and Bon-
oncini became in public opinion a dangerous rival to
Handel.
So high did party feeling run between the sup-
porters of the two composers, that the directors of the
Royal Academy finally hit upon a curious method of
^ It is difficult for us moderns to realise what the voice of a castrato was
like. The expression used by Burney, of a song being "thundered out"
by the voice of Senesino, proves it must have been something very different
from anything that is now to be heard. It must have had all the force of a
tenor or bass voice, with the compass of a soprano or contralto.
90 HANDEL
settling the point of precedence. They persuaded the
rival musicians to collaborate, and arranged to produce a
new opera of which the third act was to be written by
Handel, and the second by Bononcini, the first falling to
the lot of Filippo Mattei, usually called " Pipo." ^ Muzio
Scevola, the hybrid opera in question, was produced on
the 15th of April 1721. Naturally enough, it won little
success, indeed at the first performance the audience took
much less interest in the music than in the news of the
birth of the Duke of Cumberland, which was announced
during the evening.^ Nor did Muzio Scevola settle for
a moment the controversy as to the respective merits
of the rival composers, which raged indeed more fiercely
after the production than before it. Meanwhile, the affairs
of the Academy were not prospering. The audiences
were good, but the enormous expenses swallowed up
every penny of profit, and frequent calls were made
upon the subscribers in order to cover the season's
expenses. During the season of 1721-22, however, the
tide turned, and a dividend of 7 per cent, was declared.
The chief cause of this happy state of affairs was
Bononcini, whose Crispo and Griselda scored great
successes during the spring of 1722. Handel was less
successful with his Floridante, which appeared on the
9th of December 1721, with Senesino in the principal part.
^ An ambiguous passage in Mainwaring's Memoirs has given rise to a
tradition, which has been copied by later writers, that the first act of Muzio
Scevola was v/ritten by Attilio Ariosti. Contemporary evidence, however,
makes it certain that Mattei was the composer. In Opel's Alittheihmgen
ztir Geschichte der Familie Handel, a letter is quoted from Fabrice to Count
von Flemming in which the question is settled beyond a doubt. " Chaque acte
de cet opera," he says, "est d'un compositeur different, le premier par un
nomme Pipo, le second par Bononcini, et le troisieme par Hendell, qui I'a
emporte haut a la main."
^ See the letter already quoted in Opel's Mittheilungen.
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 91
His women singers did not do him justice. Durastanti
was not a success. The English public thought her hard
and masculine, and Anastasia Robinson was not musician
enough to sing his music as it should be sung. In
Bononcini's simpler strains she did well enough. A
trifling little ballad like " Per la gloria" was well within
her powers, and it was as the patient heroine of Griselda,
in which this song occurs, that she is supposed to have
completed her conquest of Lord Peterborough's
susceptible heart.
But a singer was already on her way to England
who was destined to restore to Handel his rightful
supremacy, and to put a speedy end to Bononcini's
shortlived triumph — the famous Francesca Cuzzoni.
Meanwhile the autumn season had begun, and the
wheels of Cuzzoni's chariot were lingering. Handel grew
impatient, and sent his trusty lieutenant Sandoni in
search of her. Sandoni's quest was successful. He
brought Cuzzoni to England in triumph — as his wife.
Why Sandoni married the most famous singer of the day
is easy to comprehend, but why Cuzzoni married a
humble accompanist is a more difficult problem to solve.
Whatever may have been her reasons, she soon repented
of them. She led Sandoni a woeful life for a few years,
and then poisoned him. But this is to anticipate too
much. Cuzzoni made her English debut in Handel's
Ottone, which was produced on the 12th of January 1723.
She became at once the spoiled darling of the fashionable
world, and retained her pride of place until her great rival
Faustina appeared upon the scene in 1726, when a
struggle for supremacy began to which the Handel-
Bononcini controversy was mere child's play. Cuzzoni was
a singularly unattractive woman. " She was short and
92 HANDEL
squat," says Horace Walpole, " with a cross face, but fine
complexion ; was not a good actress ; dressed ill, and was
silly and fantastical." Her disposition did not belie her
face. She had the temper of a fiend, and was as obstinate
as a mule. But in Handel she met her match. He
opened their acquaintance by observing in his gruffest
tones, " Oh, Madame, je sais bien que vous etes une
veritable diablesse, mais je vous ferai savoir, moi, que je
suis Beelzebub, le chef des diables." Encouraged by this
greeting, she flatly refused to sing the beautiful air,
" Falsa immagine," which Handel had set down as her
opening song, whereupon he seized her round the waist
and threatened to throw her out of the window. Cuzzoni
owned herself beaten, sang the song, and in a moment had
London at her feet. Her voice must have been wonder-
ful, and her singing miraculous even for the eighteenth
century. Burney speaks of a " native warble " which
concealed the consummate art of her technique. " Her
shake," he says, " was perfect, her high notes unrivalled
in clearness and sweetness, and her intonation so just
that she seemed incapable of singing out of tune." She
charmed alike rich and poor, high and low. Mrs. Delany
laughed at her nonsensical tricks, but adored her singing.
*' This morning," she wrote, " I was entertained with
Cuzzoni. Oh ! how charming ! How did I wish for all I
love and like to be with me at that instant of time. My
senses were ravished with harmony." More epigrammatic
and no less enthusiastic was a groom in the gallery, who,
while Cuzzoni was singing a song in Ottone, cried out,
" Damn her, she has got a nest of nightingales in her
belly."
Cuzzoni had to the full the modern prima donna's
talent for self-advertisement. She took good care that
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 93
the public should be kept au fait with all her movements.
When she presented her husband with a son and heir, the
details of her confinement were the talk of the coffee-
houses. Every one knew that she went to bed singing
" La speranza," and bothered her husband into buying her
a gigantic looking-glass and a black silk hood. But in
spite of her follies she could be charming when she chose.
Lady Bristol met her at a party, and was loud in her
praises : " Cuzzoni was in high good humour. She sent
for Whyburn with his lute, and sung for two hours like a
nightingale. She has learnt two English ballads, which
she makes the agreeablest thing you ever heard." ^
The combination of Handel's music and Cuzzoni's voice
dealt a severe blow to the Bononcini faction. Now that
Handel had at his command a singer capable of doing
justice to his music, his superiority was indisputable.
In October 1722, Lady Bristol wrote to her husband :
" Bononcini is dismissed the theatre for operas, which I
believe you and some of your family will regret. The
reason they give for it is his most extravagant demands."^
Six months later, Mrs. Delany observed : " The young
Duchess of Marlborough has settled upon Bononcini for
his life ^500 a year, provided he will not compose any
more for the ungrateful Academy, who do not deserve
that he should entertain them, since they don't know how
to value his works as they ought, and likewise told him he
should always be welcome to her table." Bononcini took
the money, but apparently the quarrel was patched up,
for he went on writing operas for the Academy. At any
rate his Farnace and Calfurnia were both produced after
this date, but his star was on the decline and the vogue of
his music was over so far as the general public was
^ Letter Book of John Hervey, Earl of Bristol, vol. ii.
94 HANDEL
concerned, though the compact little phalanx of his
admirers supported him through thick and thin, and we
read of concerts given by his patroness, the Duchess of
Marlborough, at which only his music was performed.
People still chattered about the respective merits of
the triumvirate. Gay wrote to Swift early in 1723 : "As
for the reigning amusement of the town, it is entirely
music, real fiddles, bass viols and hautboys, not poetical
harps, lyres and reeds. There's nobody allowed to say I
sing, but an eunuch or an Italian woman. Everybody is
grown now as great a judge of music as they were in your
time of poetry, and folks that could not distinguish one
tune from another, now daily dispute about the different
styles of Handel, Bononcini and Attilio." ^
About this time Byrom produced his celebrated epi-
gram, which, familiar as it is, is too witty to be omitted : —
" Some say, compar'd to Bononcini,
That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny ;
Others aver that he to Handel',
Is scarcely fit to hold a candle.
Strange, all this difference should be
'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee ! " ^
^ Swift, Correspondence.
- John Byrom was a facile and fluent writer of verse, and attained some
degree of fame by his invention of a new system of shorthand. He seems
actually to have written his famous epigram on the 22nd of February 1725,
according to his fournal (published by the Chetham Society), in which occurs
the entry : ' ' Wrote some verses to Leycester about the Opera," on that date.
It does not appear, however, to have been widely circulated until a few
months later. On May 9 i\iQ Journal observes: "Mr. Leycester left my
epigram upon Handel and Bononcini in shorthand for Jemmy Ord " ; and on
the l8th : " Mr. Leycester came there [to George's Coffee-House], and Bob
Ord, who was come home from Cambridge, where he said he had made the
whole Hall laugh at Trinity College, and got himself honour by my epigram
upon Handel and Bononcini." By June 5 it had found its way into the
newspapers.
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 95
Meanwhile, Handel continued his triumphant career with
Flavio (14th May 1723), but his singers still gave him a
good deal of trouble. Cuzzoni was by no means the only
offender. For a quite insignificant part in Flavio he
engaged a young English singer named Gordon, who
seems to have entertained an uncommonly good opinion
of his own musicianship. At any rate, one day when
Handel was rehearsing with him the one song allotted to
him in the opera, " Fato tiranno," he had the impertinence
to criticise the composer's method of accompanying.
This was more than Handel could put up with, and in
a vigorous mixture of half a dozen languages he told
Gordon to mind his own business. A quarrel ensued, and
Gordon finished by declaring that if Handel persisted in
accompanying him in that manner he would jump upon
his harpsichord and smash it to pieces. " Oh," replied
Handel, "let me know when you will do that, and I will
advertise it ; for I am sure more people will come to see
you jump, than to hear you sing." Giulio Cesare (20th
February 1724) was one of Handel's most brilliant
masterpieces, in which Senesino's declamation of the
accompanied recitative " Alma del gran Pompeo " was
the talk of the town. Senesino won less honourable
notoriety shortly afterwards by a quarrel with Anastasia
Robinson, which ended in his being publicly horse-
whipped by Lord Peterborough ; and London had
another hearty laugh over his abject plight one evening
at the theatre when, as he was thundering out the words
" Caesar has no fear," a piece of the scenery fell from the
flies upon the stage, which so terrified the poor little hero
that he fell upon the boards and burst into a piteous flood
of tears. People ridiculed the follies and vanities of the
singers, but the worship of everything connected with
g6 HANDEL
opera still continued, in spite of the protests of old-
fashioned critics, who denounced the degradation of
English society in no measured terms.
But we must hasten over the next few years, which
saw the production of Handel's Taniedano (31st October
1724), Rodelinda (13th February 1725), and Scipio (12th
March 1726). All three operas were successful, and
provided triumphs for Cuzzoni and Senesino. For
Tamei'lano Handel's company was strengthened by the
arrival in England of Borosini, of whom Mist's Weekly
Jout'nal humorously observed : " It is commonly reported
this gentleman was never cut out for a singer." He was,
in fact, a tenor, and during his stay in England Handel
wrote several important parts for him — contrary to the
taste of the time, which favoured only soprani and
contralti, with an occasional exception in favour of a bass.
In Rodelinda, Cuzzoni's triumph was not only vocal, for
the brown silk gown trimmed with silver in which she
played the part of the heroine became the rage, and set
the fashion for the season. Rodelinda was one of Handel's
most popular operas. Byrom refers to it in some stanzas
addressed to an opera-loving friend : —
"Dear Peter, if thou canst descend
From Rodelind to hear a friend,
And if those ravished ears of thine
Can quit the shrill celestial whine
Of gentle eunuchs, and sustain
Thy native English without pain,
I would, if 'tain't too great a burden
Thy ravished ears intrude a word in."^
But in spite of individual successes the affairs of the
Academy were not prospering, and the directors deter-
' Byrom, Letter to R. L., Esq.
CANONS AND ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC 97
mined upon a magnificently audacious coup. They
engaged Faustina Bordoni, Cuzzoni's only serious rival,
and commissioned Handel to write an opera in which the
two prima donnas were to appear together upon pre-
cisely equal terms. The task was one of extreme difficulty,
but Handel undertook it with alacrity. He was in
excellent spirits just then. He had become a naturalised
Englishman on the 13th of February 1726, and the King
had immediately appointed him Composer to the Chapel
Royal ^ and Composer to the Court, offices which could
only be held by British subjects. Bononcini seemed at
last to be utterly crushed ; and Handel felt powerful
enough to face unmoved even the wrath of two jealous
prima donnas.
^ This appointment seems to have been purely honorary, and had nothing
to do with the post of organist, which was held by Dr. Greene.
CHAPTER VII
FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI, 1726-1728
IF music has power to charm the savage breast, it
can also at times excite well-behaved and well-
educated people to excesses of savagery that would
disgrace a troglodyte. In the history of music there
are many famous quarrels, but none ever surpassed in
violence and acrimony the historic feud between Faustina
and Cuzzoni and their respective partisans. Cuzzoni
had the advantage of being first in the field, but though
her magnificent singing had won her many supporters
during the three years for which she had adorned the
London stage, she had estranged many of them by her
vanity and ill temper, and the engagement of Faustina
was no doubt partly intended to bring Cuzzoni to a
proper sense of her position. In Alessandro (5th May
1726) the two great singers appeared side by side.
Handel and his librettist had worked so cleverly together
that neither artist had anything to complain of They
sang song for song throughout the opera. Each of them
sang a duet with Senesino, and they had one duet
together which was so skilfully composed that neither
of them could say which was singing the principal
part.
The applause was equally divided, and the audience
Ilil^liilJIlMllllipiiillllJ LpppipjJ
'iUHl |llll|||i||ji||i||||ill' I |ri I. hi, I. Ill, Ml .il.l.aJt^^^lJIlllliiilillrrllUnillllllllllilllia
CUZZONI AND FAUSTINA
FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI 99
left the theatre discussing the all - important question
whether Cuzzoni or Faustina was the greater artist. In
a few days every tea-table in London was ringing with
the same question. The Handel-Bononcini controversy
was forgotten in the rivalry of the two prima donnas.
If any one had imagined that the arrival of Faustina
was going to resolve the discords of the musical world
he was sadly mistaken. She came bringing not peace
but a sword. London seemed to divide in a moment
into two parties. There was no middle course. Every
one had to be on one side or the other, Cuzzoni's chief
backer was Lady Pembroke, and the leader of the
Faustina faction was Dorothy, Lady Burlington, the
young wife of Handel's patron. Lady Walpole, who
must have been almost as good a diplomatist as her
husband, was one of the few who contrived to keep on
good terms with both sides. Faustina and Cuzzoni
actually met under her roof, but neither would consent
to sing in the presence of the other. At last, by a lucky
inspiration. Lady Walpole contrived to smuggle Faustina
into an adjoining room, under the pretext of show-
ing her some china, and while her back was turned,
Cuzzoni, who fancied that her rival had fled, was
induced to sing. Later in the evening a similar piece of
diplomacy extracted a song from Faustina. Meanwhile
the newspapers had taken up the controversy, and
lampoons fanned the flame of faction. Doggerel verses
were passed from hand to hand, of which the following
is a specimen : —
" At Leicester Fields I give my vote
For the fine-piped Cuzzoni ;
At Burlington's I change my note,
Faustina for my money.
loo HANDEL
Attilio's music I despise,
For none can please like Handel,
But the disputes which hence arise,
I wish and hope may end well."^
As a rule, the controversialists were not so amiable as
this anonymous poet. Many of them, in the good old-
fashioned seventeenth-century style, turned to the private
lives of the singers, and aspersions upon the morality of
the fair rivals were openly circulated, so gross in language
and suggestion that respectable newspapers refused to
publish them. It was not the fashion just then to be
mealy-mouthed, and the freedom of thought and expres-
sion displayed in " An Epistle from Signora F a to
a Lady," to take but one instance, raises a mild curiosity
as to what the poems can have been like which the
virtuous British J ourfial considered too outspoken for its
chaste pages.
Handel's Admeto, which was produced on the 31st
of January 1727, raised the excitement to fever heat.
Both ladies had good parts in the new opera, and their
respective admirers seized the opportunity not only of
acclaiming their own favourite, but of trying to drown
the applause of the opposite faction. The production
of Bononcini's Astyanax on the 6th of May brought
matters to a head. Both parties turned up in force, and
Cuzzoni's first song was a signal for the tumult to
begin. The poor woman's voice was drowned by hisses,
groans and cat-calls. However, she had been warned
of what was going to happen, and stood her ground
manfully. When Faustina's turn came, the Cuzzonites
had their revenge. The theatre was turned into a bear-
garden, and the fine flower of English society behaved
^ Historical MSS. Commissioti, Report xii. Appendix, pt. 9.
FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI loi
like a parcel of drunken pot-boys at Greenwich Fair.
The presence of the Princess Amelia was no check on
the disorder, and the evening ended in riot and con-
fusion. Lady Pembroke, the leader of the Cuzzonites,
seems to have realised that she and her party had let
their feelings carry them rather too far. There is an
interesting letter extant from her to Mrs. Clayton,
afterwards Lady Sundon, who was Mistress of the
Robes to the Princess of Wales, entreating that amiable
person to explain the state of affairs to the Princess,
who presumably was vexed at her daughter's having
been treated with so little respect: —
" Dear Madam," the letter runs, — " I hope you will
forgive the trouble I am going to give you, having
always found you on every occasion most obliging.
What I have to desire is, that if you find a convenient
opportunity,^ I wish you would be so good as to tell
Her Royal Highness that every one who wishes well to
Cuzzoni is in the utmost concern for what happened
last Tuesday at the Opera in the Princess Amelia's
presence ; but to show their innocence of the disrespect
which was shown to Her Highness, I beg you will do
them the justice to say that the Cuzzoni had been
publicly told, to complete her disgrace, she was to be
hissed off the stage on Tuesday. She was in such
concern at this that she had a great mind not to sing,
but I, without knowing anything that the Princess
Amelia would honour the Opera with her presence,
positively ordered her not to quit the stage, but let
them do what they would — though not heard, to sing
on, and not to go off till it was proper ; and she owns
now that if she had not had that order she would have
I02 HANDEL
quitted the stage when they cat-called her to such a
degree in one song that she was not heard one note,
which provoked the people that like her so much that
they were not able to get the better of their resentment,
but would not suffer the Faustina to speak afterwards.
I hope Her Royal Highness would not disapprove of
any one preventing the Cuzzoni's being hissed off the
stage ; but I am in great concern they did not suffer
anything to have happened to her, rather than to have
failed in the high respect every one ought to pay to a
Princess of Her Royal Highness's family; but as they
were not the aggressors, I hope that may in some
measure excuse them."^
After this outburst the subscribers seemed to have
been somewhat ashamed of themselves, but the close
of the season on the 6th of June was marked by even
more scandalous disturbances. This time the Princess of
Wales herself was in the theatre, but nothing could
check the insanity of the audience. The climax of the
entertainment on this occasion was a personal encounter
between Faustina and Cuzzoni, who, roused to fury by
the excesses of their partisans, threw decency to the
winds and attacked each other tooth and nail. Arbuthnot
seized the opportunity of making bitter fun of the singers
and their followers in The Devil to pay at St. James's?
After describing how " the two Singing Ladies pulled each
other's Coifs " and scolded each other " like Billingsgates,"
he went on to make a severely practical suggestion. " In
^ Memoirs of Viscountess Sitndon, vol. i.
- Arbuthnot's latest biographer, Mr. G. A. Aitken, denies his authorship
of this pamphlet, which, however, appears in the collected edition of his
works.
FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI 103
the meantime, I humbly propose that since these Ladies
are not to be reconciled by any other gentle Means, 'tis
best that they should fight it out at Figg's or Stoke's
Amphitheatre ; that a subscription be opened for that
purpose, and the best woman have the whole house." ^
The Homeric contest of the two singers naturally fired
the doggerel poets to further efforts, but their epigrams
^ Figg was a well-known prize-fighter, who taught boxing to the gilded
youth of the day at an "academy" in the fields to the north of Oxford
Street. He is immortalised by Hogarth in his Rakers Progress^ and by Pope
in one of his satires : —
" See, where the British youth, engaged no more
At Figg's or White's with felons or a w e ! "
Byrom, too, wrote an amusing set of verses on one of Figg's historic
encounters, beginning —
" Long was the great Figg by the prize-fighting swains
Sole n^onarch acknowledged of Marybone Plains."
As to the notion of a feminine prize-fight, there was nothing in that to
shock or even to surprise an eighteenth-century public. Contests of this
sort were, if not an everyday occurrence, at any rate by no means uncommon.
Cesar de Saussure, who was in London in 1727, gives an elaborate and
rather blood-curdling account of a prize-fight between two women, which
evidently he thoroughly enjoyed, though he adds : " I consider that cock-
fights are much more diverting." But at that time women took a far more
prominent share in what are usually called "manly" exercises than is con-
sidered correct even in these days of golf and hockey. " I am told," writes
Saussure, "that in Kew Green women and girls, scantily clothed, run races,
the smock being the prize, hence the appellation 'smock runs.'" (Saussure,
England in the Reigns of George i and George 11. ) Even in the depths of
the country the same sports were practised. The vivacious Mrs. Bradshaw
writes from Cheshire to her friend Mrs. Howard : "My lady Mohun and I
have our rural pleasures too. The Colonel gave a smock for the young
wenches to run for. The pleasure of the day ended with a prison base ; all
the swains from the two neighbouring towns performed feats of activity, and
ran against one another with little more than a fig leaf for their clothing,
and we, being in a state of innocence, were not ashamed to show our faces."
{Stiffolk Correspondence, 1722.)
104 HANDEL
are scarcely worth the trouble of transcribing. This is
perhaps the best of them : —
" Old poets sing that beasts did dance
Whenever Orpheus played ;
So to Faustina's charming voice
Wise Pembroke's asses brayed."
But for the moment the opera scandal was thrust into
the background by events of wider importance. On
nth June, King George I died suddenly at Osnabriick,
struck to the heart, it was whispered, by a warning of
approaching doom sent to him by his injured and
neglected wife, Sophia Dorothea, whom he had kept in
close confinement for years in the fortress of Ahlden, to
expiate her supposed adultery with Count Konigsmark.
Other authorities attribute his death to a surfeit of water-
melons. The news reached England on the 14th, and
on the following day George II was proclaimed King.
The new King continued the pension already allotted to
Handel by Anne and George I, and added a further
pension of ;^200 in consideration of the composer's
services as music master to the Princesses Amelia and
Caroline. It is doubtful whether any salary was attached
to the offices of Composer to the Court and to the Chapel
Royal, which George I had conferred upon him when
he became naturalised ; and the latter at any rate he
seems to have shared with Maurice Greene, who used to
blow the organ at St. Paul's for him in the old Burlington
House days, but had now gone over to the Bononcini
faction. It was probably in virtue of the former appoint-
ment that Handel wrote the minuets which were performed
at the court ball on the 30th of October 1727, and
composed the magnificent series of anthems for the
FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI 105
King's coronation on the nth of October which, as
Rockstro justly says, have made that event a landmark in
the history of music. Handel had a tussle with the Arch-
bishops of Canterbury and York over the selection of
words for these anthems. The worthy prelates had their
own ideas upon the subject, and wanted to dictate to
Handel what words he should set. But it needed more
than a couple of archbishops to browbeat Handel into
submission. " I have read my Bible very well," he cried,
" and shall choose for myself." And so he did, and with
excellent results, for his anthems strike just the right
note of regal splendour and magnificence, and seem to
sparkle with the glitter of the gleaming pageant Saussure,
who gives one of the best extant descriptions of the
coronation, was' evidently much impressed by them,
though anything but an expert. " During the whole
ceremony," he writes, " a band of the most skilful musicians,
together with the finest voices in England, sung admirable
symphonies, conducted by the celebrated Mr. Handel, who
had composed the Litany."
The King's Theatre opened again on nth November
with a new opera by Handel, Riccardo Prima, Re
d'Inghilterra, but the days of the Royal Academy were
numbered. The scandals of the previous season had
alienated the sympathies of all respectable people. Old
subscribers fell off, and no new ones were forthcoming.
It was hoped that Riccardo would draw the town by
reason of its popular and patriotic subject, but the houses
were poor. Mrs. Delany thought it " delightful," but she
was compelled to add : " I doubt operas will not survive
longer than this winter. They are now at their last
gasp ; the subscription is expired, and nobody will renew
it. The directors are always squabbling, and they have
io6 HANDEL
so many divisions among themselves that I wonder they
have not broke up before." ^
More disastrous to the Academy even than its own
internal dissensions was the rivalry of The Beggar's Opera,
which had been produced early in 1727 at the Little
Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and at once took London
by storm. Every one was laughing at Gay's jests, coarse
as they often were, and humming the charming old folk-
songs so cleverly arranged by Dr. Pepusch. In vain
Arbuthnot thundered against the degradation of popular
taste, in vain Carey scarified the " Newgate Pastoral,"
as Swift called it, with ridicule. The beauty of the
music and the freshness of the libretto won all hearts.
Even Mrs. Delany, who deplored the empty houses in
the Haymarket, and declared that " The English have
no real taste for music, or they could not neglect an
entertainment so perfect in its kind for a parcel of ballad
singers," had to admit that The Beggar s Opera was very
" comical and full of humour."
Gay wrote to Swift with ill-disguised triumph : " The
outlandish (as they call it) opera hath been so thin of
late that some have called that The Beggars Opera ; and
if the run continues, I fear, I shall have a remonstrance
drawn up against me by the Royal Academy of Music."
A month later he added : " The Beggar s Opera hath been
acted now thirty-six times, and was as full the last night
as the first ; and as yet there is not the least probability
of a thin audience, though there is a discourse about the
town that the doctors of the Royal Academy of Music
design to solicit against it being played on the outlandish
opera days."
The falling fortunes of the Academy roused its enemies
^ Delany, Correspondence, vol. i.
FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI 107
to fresh efforts. Hostile pamphleteers launched anony-
mous pasquinades against Handel and his music. The
hand of Bononcini is plainly to be traced in Advice to
the Composers and Performers of Vocal Mustek, which
was published in Italian and English in 1727, with its
spiteful references to composers who "overcharge and
encumber the composition with too many symphonies."
Handel alone was not to be cowed by the imminence
of disaster. He stood to his guns manfully, and produced
opera after opera in rapid succession. Riccardo was
followed by Siroe (5th February 1728), and Siroe by
Tolomeo (19th April 1728), but all in vain. Tolonieo was
only performed seven times, and on the 1st of June the
season came to an abrupt termination. The original
;;^50,ooo was all spent, and there was no prospect of
raising any more, so there was nothing to be done but
to disband the company and close the doors of the
theatre.
CHAPTER VIII
HANDEL AS MANAGER, 1728-1732
THE collapse of the Royal Academy of Music was
very far from destroying Handel's belief in the
future of Italian opera in England. Probably he felt
that the affairs of the Academy had been mismanaged,
as indeed was almost inevitable when the broth was
committed to the care of such an army of cooks, and he
fancied that in proper hands opera might yet be a paying
concern. At any rate he was ready to back his belief to
the extent of his own savings, which were said to amount
to ten thousand pounds. He joined forces with his old
friend Heidegger, and took the King's Theatre. A
partnership of five years was agreed upon, and the first
season was to include fifty performances at a subscription
of fifteen guineas a ticket. The enterprise was under the
special patronage of Handel's old pupil, the Princess
Royal.^ Heidegger seems to have started operations by
hastening abroad in search of new singers, but his efforts
were unsuccessful, and he soon resigned the task of
choosing a company to his partner. Handel probably
left England in the autumn of 1728, and went straight to
Italy, postponing his visit to his aged mother at Halle
until his return journey. He went the round of Italy,
^ Shaftesbury Biographical Sketch.
HANDEL AS MANAGER 109
visiting in turn Rome, Milan, Venice, and other important
musical centres, and hearing all the newest works of the
newest composers. Handel's previous biographers are
practically unanimous in stating that he made this
journey in the company of his old friend Steffani,
regardless of the fact that the latter had breathed his
last at Frankfort on the 12th of February 1728.^ At
Rome Handel renewed his friendship with the hospitable
Cardinal Ottoboni, and doubtless once more took part in
his famous Wednesday performances of chamber music.
He also encountered another old friend, Cardinal
Colonna, at whose house many years before, as the reader
will remember, he played duets with a juvenile prodigy.
Colonna seems to have endeavoured to bring about a
meeting between Handel and the Chevalier de St. George,
who was at that time resident in Rome, and was devoted
to music, but Handel was wise enough not to prejudice
his credit at the Hanoverian court by dallying with the
Pretender. Handel's movements were followed with
considerable interest by his English friends, and the
musical world of London seems to have regarded his
Italian tour as almost of national importance. Sir Lionel
Pilkington wrote to a friend in April 1729: " Handel is
doing his endeavour in Italy to procure singers, and I
fancy his journey will be of more effect than Heidegger's ;
but I'm told Senesino is playing an ungrateful part to
his friends in England, by abusing 'em behind their backs,
and saying he'll come no more among 'em."^ Abroad,
too, all kinds of absurd rumours were circulated as to
the methods employed by English managers to secure
1 Woker, "Agostino Steffani." {Vereinsschrift der Gorres-Geselhchaft,
1886.)
^ Hist. MSS. Commission, 35.
no HANDEL
Italian singers. Mattheson, who was always glad to do
Handel a bad turn, though in this case he did not
mention him by name, gave a currency to a ridiculous
story about a nun with a wonderful voice having been
abducted from a Milanese convent by emissaries of a
London impresario.^ Senesino doubtless did all that he
could to enhance his own value, but Handel was tired of
his conceit and impertinence, and made up his mind to
try to get on without him. In his stead he engaged
another artificial soprano, Bernacchi ; and his new prima
donna was Signora Strada del P6, whom Burney
describes as " a coarse singer with a fine voice," though it
is evident, from the music that Handel wrote for her, that
she was already mistress of a brilliant technique. Strange
as it seems to us, who live in an age of tenor-worship,
nobody in the eighteenth century cared a jot about tenors
compared with the all-conquering castrati. However,
Handel, who was nothing if not enterprising, determined
to strike out upon a new line, and engaged the best tenor
of the age, Annibale Fabri, together with his wife, who
excelled in male parts. In March 1729 Handel was in
Venice, whence he wrote to his brother-in-law, Dr.
Michaelsen, promising to visit Halle on his way home. A
little later, he received distressing news of his mother's
health. He hastened to Halle to find her stricken with
paralysis and totally blind, but still able to move about
the house. He stayed with her as long as he could, even
declining an invitation to meet Bach at Leipzig, so that
she might not lose a day of his society, and finally bidding
her farewell in the middle of June 1729. She lingered
until the close of the following year, dying in her
eightieth year in all peace and honour, but he never saw
1 Mattheson, ]\Iusikalischer Patriot.
HAiNDEL AS MANAGER iii
her again. On his way home Handel passed through
Hanover, and renewed memories of his youth by paying
a visit to Hamburg, where he engaged the bass singer
Riemschneider. Handel reached London on the ist
July and his new singers arrived in September, but the
season did not actually begin until the 2nd of December,
when Handel's Lotario was produced. London had been
deprived of opera for eighteen months, and excitement
ran high with regard to the new " Academy," as it was
called. Everybody was- talking about the new artists,
and the privileged few who were admitted to the re-
hearsals had a great deal to say about their merits and
defects, Mrs, Delany, who was one of these, wrote an
elaborate account of them to a musical friend :
" Bernacchi has a vast compass, his voice mellow and
clear, but not so sweet as Senesino, his manner better,
his person not so good, for he is as big as a Spanish
friar. Fabri has a tenor voice, sweet, clear, and firm, but
not strong enough, I doubt, for the stage. He sings
like a gentleman, without making faces, and his manner
is particularly agreeable. He is the greatest master of
music that ever sang upon the stage. The third is the
bass, a very good distinct voice, without any harshness.
La Strada is the first woman ; her voice is without
exception fine, her manner perfection, but her person
very bad, and she makes frightful mouths.^ La Merighi
is the next to her; her voice is not extraordinarily good
or bad. She is tall, and has a very graceful person with
a tolerable face. She seems to be a woman about forty ;
she sings easily and agreeably. The last is Bertolli ; she
has neither voice, ear, or manner to recommend her ; but
^ Burney says of her : " She had so little of a Venus in her appearance,
that she was usually called "The Pig."
1 1 2 HANDEL
she is a perfect beauty, quite a Cleopatra, that sort of
complexion with regular features, fine teeth, and when
she sings has a smile about her mouth, which is
extremely pretty, and I believe has practised to sing
before a glass, for she has never any distortion in her
face." Lotario was not a success. Even so staunch a
Handelian as Mrs. Delany did not altogether approve of
it. " I never was so little pleased with one of Mr.
Handel's operas in my life," she wrote. But she would
not allow other people to criticise it. " The opera is too
good for the vile taste of the town," she continued. " It
is disliked because it is too much studied, and they love
nothing but minuets and ballads; in short, the Beggars
Opera and HurlotJirumbo are only worthy of applause."
The Beggars Opet'a was by this time a very old story,
and none of its numerous sequels and imitations had won
a tithe of its success. Gay, or rather his patroness, the
Duchess of Queensberry, had got into trouble over Polly ^
a continuation of The Beggar's Opera, the production of
which had been forbidden by the Lord Chamberlain.
Like our muzzled dramatists of to-day, Gay thought to
shame the censor by publishing his play, and the Duchess
was so strenuous a canvasser, urging everybody she met
to subscribe for a copy, even under the very nose of the
King, that at last he forbade her to appear at Court.
Hurlothrumbo was a spectacular piece by a dramatist
named Samuel Johnson, which was produced in April
1729, and for many months drew all London to Lincoln's
Inn Fields. Byrom, the author of the famous Handel-
Bononcini epigram, gives an amusing account of the first
night in a letter to his wife : " As for Mr. Johnson, he is
at present one of the chief topics of talk in London.
Dick's Coffee- House resounds Hurlothrumbo from one
HANDEL AS MANAGER 113
end to the other. He had a full house and much good
company on Saturday night, the first time of acting ; and
report says all the boxes are taken for next Monday, and
the quality, they say, expect an epilogue next time (there
being none last) from Mr. B . It is impossible to
describe this play and the oddities, out-of-the-waynesses,
flights, madness, nonsense, comicalities, etc., but I hope
Johnson will make his fortune by it for the present. We
had seven or eight Garters, they say, in the pit; I saw
Lord Oxford and one or two more there, but was so
intent upon the farce that I did not observe many quality
that were there. We agreed to laugh and clap beforehand,
and kept our word from beginning to end. The night
after, Johnson came to Dick's, and they all got about him
like so many bees. They say the Prince has been told
of Hui'Iothruinbo, and will come and see it. ... I shall
get Johnson to vary some passages in it, if I can, that
from anybody but himself would make it an entertainment
not quite so proper for the ladies, and I would have our
ladies here see it because they know the man. For my
part, who think all stage entertainments stuff and
nonsense, I consider this as a joke upon 'em all."
However, as Johnson was a friend and a fellow-
Lancastrian, Byrom consented to fulfil expectation, and
wrote an epilogue for the piece, in which occur the
lines : —
" Handel himself shall yield to Hurlothrumbo,
And Bononcini too shall cry : Succumbo."
Partenope, produced on the 24th of February 1730, was
more successful than Lotario^ but on the whole the season,
which closed in June, was anything but brilliant, and
Handel had to take serious thought for the future.
8
114 HANDEL |
The first thing to do was to reorganise his company.
Bernacchi, whose singing, according to Mrs. Delany, did
not suit English ears, was dismissed, and, in deference to
popular taste, Senesino was engaged in his place.^ Various
other engagements were made, and the season opened
on the 3rd of November with a revival of Scipio, in which
Senesino took his old part of the hero. A novelty was
forthcoming on the 2nd of February 1731, in the shape of
Poro^ with Senesino as the Indian king, Fabri as Alexander
the Great, and Strada as Cleofide. Fortune now smiled
upon Handel and his theatre, and the following season —
during which Ezio (15th January 1732) and Sosarme (19th ■
February 1732) were produced — was no less successful.
But meanwhile Handel was winning triumphs in a very
different field. It has often excited the surprise of
historians that, after inaugurating what was practically
a new form of art in Esther and Acis and Galatea, Handel
returned complacently to opera, and apparently forgot all
about his experiments in oratorio. The fact is, that
Handel himself had no suspicion of the importance of
these two works in the history of his artistic development.
Esther and Acis were doubtless written for some special
occasion, and Handel being an eminently practical man
^ The English infatuation for Senesino seems to have surprised foreigners. ^
Writing from Milan in 1734 Lord Harcourt says : " The English have quite
lost their reputation of being judges in musick ever since the bad reception
Bernacchi met with in England ; and although his voice may be perhaps a
little worn out, nevertheless, to show how much he is esteemed in this
country for his good taste, skill, and judgment in musick, he is called the
Father of musick — which title he certainly well deserves, since 'tis he that has
given the fine taste of musick (as the Itahans express themselves) to the
famous Farinelli, Carestini, etc. And on the other hand, to show the
difference of the Italian and English taste, Senesino, who is so much
admired in England, would not be able to get his bread in this country."
Harcozirt Papers, vol. iii. p. 27.
HANDEL AS MANAGER 115
designed them in view of the forces that he had at his
disposal. The choir at Canons was first-rate, and for that
reason he assigned unusual importance to the choral parts
of both works. But nothing would have surprised him
more than to hear Esther or Acis described as an oratorio.
Both works were unquestionably intended for dramatic
performance. It was an accident that gave them the
special character which fitted them equally well for
stage or concert perfoxmance. Handel doubtless looked
upon them merely z.?, pieces d' occasion, as a kind of holiday
task in the midst of the real business of his life, and he
must have been pleasantly surprised when Bernard Gates,
the master of the children of the Chapel Royal, asked
for leave to give a private performance of Esther at his
own house. Handel, no doubt, was flattered, and in due
course the performance took place. The fact that it was
given on Handel's birthday, 23rd February 1732, indicates
the friendly and intimate character of the entertainment.
The choir boys sang their parts capitally, the company
present was charmed, and it was speedily arranged that
the performance should be repeated at the Crown and
Anchor Tavern in the Strand under the segis of the
Academy of Ancient Music, an institution in which
Handel took a special interest. Esther was given twice
at the Crown and Anchor before crowded audiences, and
its fame spread far and wide. Princess Anne heard of it
and, with her usual enthusiasm for the music of her
beloved master, expressed a very earnest desire to see it.
She suggested a performance at the opera-house, but the
Bishop of London, Dr. Gibson, stepped in and put his
veto upon the scheme of acting a Biblical drama in a theatre.
He had no objection, however, to a performance without
dramatic action, a decision which was pregnant with fate
ii6 HANDEL
for Handel's future. Meanwhile, the chatter about Esther
had brought another Richmond into the field, and an
announcement duly appeared to the effect that a perform-
ance of Esther, " as it was composed for the Most Noble
James, Duke of Chandos," would be given at the Great
Room in Villiers Street, York Buildings, on the 20th of
April 1732. Nebulous as the copyright laws are
nowadays, they seem to have been even more indefinite
in the eighteenth century, or Handel of all men in the
world never have sat down under such an aggressive piece
of piracy as this. However, he soon replied with a counter-
announcement that " by his Majesty's Command," Esther
would be given at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket
on the 2nd of May " by a great number of Voices and
Instruments." Very significant as a document in the
history of oratorio is the note at the end of the advertise-
ment: ^^ N.B. — There will be no acting on the Stage, but
the house will be fitted up in a decent manner for the
audience. The Musick {i.e. the performers) to be dis-
posed after the manner of the Coronation Service."
Esther was much revised and enlarged for this perform-
ance, and the fact that the text-book bore the legend,
" The additional words by Mr. Humphreys," is a sufficient
proof that that egregious poetaster was not the author of
the original poem. Esther, we are told by Colman, was
a great success. The entire royal family was present at
the first performance, and the crowd was so great that
many persons, who had bought tickets, were unable to
get into the theatre, and their money was returned to
them. The oratorio was given six times in all, and always
before packed houses. Handel always suffered much at
the hands of pirates, and at this period they seem to have
been exceptionally active. Hardly was the success of
HANDEL AS MANAGER 117
Esther established in the teeth of unprincipled competition,
when the same scurvy trick was played in connection
with Acis and Galatea. This time the offender was
Thomas Arne, the father of the well-known composer,
who was running a season of English opera at the Little
Theatre in the Haymarket. Handel had already per-
mitted, or at any rate not objected to, a single performance
of Acis, given for the benefit of a singer named Rochetti
at Rich's theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, but it was too
much to see his property filched from under his very nose
and then exhibited at his own door. Arne's impudent
piracy compelled him to assert his rights, and he announced
a performance oi Acis on the loth of June 1732, which was
designed to compensate his opera subscribers for the fact
that only forty-nine performances, instead of the promised
fifty, had been given during the preceding season.^ In view
of this revival he remodelled his score in a drastic manner,
borrowing several numbers from his Neapolitan serenata,
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, and adding some new songs. As
regards the performance, he followed the precedent already
laid down in Esther'. "There will be no action on the
Stage," said the advertisement, " but the Scene will repre-
sent in a picturesque manner a rural prospect with rocks,
groves, fountains and grottoes, among which will be dis-
posed a Chorus of Nymphs and Shepherds, the habits and
every other decoration suited to the subject." Strada and
Senesino sang the principal parts, and the work was
received with so much favour that it was performed four
times. During the next few years it was often repeated,
in many cases with alterations both in words and music,
until about the year 1740 it assumed the final shape with
English words in which it has won world-wide renown.
^ Shaftesbury Biographical Sketch.
CHAPTER IX
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS, 1732-1737
WHEN the autumn season of 1732 began, Handel's
position seemed unassailable. He ruled the
musical destinies of London with a rod of iron. He had
proved himself incomparable in opera and oratorio alike.
His enemies lay crushed beneath his feet. So little did
he fear the competition of his erstwhile rival Bononcini,
that he had contemptuously allowed him the use of the
Opera-house for the performance of a serenata on the
24th of June. But destiny had her revenge in store.
Handel was an autocrat, and though his sway was grate-
ful to those who could appreciate good music, his master-
ful bearing made him enemies among small and great.
In the old days of the Royal Academy of Music he
occupied a more or less subordinate position. He had
a board of directors over him, to whom he was bound to
submit. But during his own management he reigned
supreme. He brooked no rival near his throne. The
subscribers had to be content with what he gave them.
He permitted no remonstrance or complaint. He chose
the singers and the operas, and those who cavilled at the
entertainment he provided might go elsewhere. The re-
sult was not, on the whole, surprising. Handel had many
staunch supporters, but among his subscribers a spirit of
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 119
revolt was astir. The aristocracy of England was not
accustomed to be treated in this manner. Who was this
upstart German who dared to dictate to them ? They
paid the piper, and they had the right to call for the tune.
Handel no doubt was not conciliatory, indeed, his enemies
called him overbearing. Neither side would yield an inch,
and it was generally felt that a crisis was at hand. Mean-
while, the opera season opened as usual in November,
with Senesino and Strada still at the head of affairs, and
on the 23rd of January 1733 a new opera, Orlando — one
of Handel's finest works — was produced. Orlando
was too good for the subscribers, but it triumphed in
the teeth of opposition, and was given sixteen times
during the season. But Handel had another string to
his bow. He had learned that oratorio was at least as
marketable an asset as opera, and for the future he pro-
posed to run the two in double harness. The beginning
of Lent was therefore the signal for the production of a
new oratorio, Deborah, which was given for the first time
on the 17th of March for Handel's benefit, outside the
ordinary series of opera subscription performances. On
this occasion several new features were introduced. The
house was " fitted up and illuminated in a new and par-
ticular manner," which was well enough, but what was
less well was that the prices of admission were doubled,
the tickets for the pit and boxes being a guinea, and for
the gallery half a guinea. Handel seems to have made
up his mind that oratorio, which just then was the more
popular form of entertainment, should pay for the de-
ficiencies of opera. The excuse given for the raised
prices was the "extraordinary expense" of the produc-
tion, ^ but there is no doubt that this new piece of imposi-
^ Shaftesbtiry Biographical Sketch.
I20 HANDEL
tion, as it was generally considered, was a severe trial
even to Handel's admirers, and his enemies of course
made capital out of it. The fact that the performance was
given upon one of the " opera days " further incensed the
subscribers, and the high prices militated against the
success of DeboraJi, in spite of the patronage of the King,
who came with all the royal family to the performance on
the 31st of March. The situation became more strained
than ever. The air was full of rumours, and the news-
papers of satirical squibs. The well-known and often
reprinted letter which appeared in TJie Cj'aftsnian of the
7th of April 1733, though of course primarily a lampoon
directed against Walpole and his unpopular Excise Bill,
represents pretty accurately the attitude of Handel's
enemies. In several points the Walpole cap does not fit
Handel at all, as in the attack on Walpole's brother, Sir
Horatio, but the squib would have lost its point if it had
not had at least a general application to the Handel
squabbles, so that it is still worth reprinting as a specimen
of the kind of abuse to which Handel had to submit.
Sir, — I am always rejoiced, when I see a spirit of
Liberty exert itself among any sect or denomination of
my countrymen. I please myself with the hopes that it
will grow more diffusive, some time or other become
fashionable, and at last useful to the publick. As I know
your zeal for Liberty, I thought I could not address better
than to you the following exact account of the noble stand
lately made by the polite part of the world in defence of
their Liberties and Properties against the open attacks and
bold attempts of Mr. H 1 upon both, I shall singly
relate the fact and leave you, who are better able than I
am, to make what inferences or applications may be proper.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 121
" The rapid rise and progress of Mr, H I's power and
fortune are too well known for me now to relate. Let it
suffice to say that he was grown so insolent upon the
sudden and undeserved increase of both, that he thought
nothing ought to oppose his imperious and extravagant
will. He had for some time govern'd the Operas and
modell'd the Orchestre without the least control. No
Voices, no Instruments, were admitted, but such as
flatter'd his ears, though they shock'd those of the
audience. Wretched Scrapers were put above the best
Hands in the Orchestre. No Musick but his own was to
be allowed, though everybody was weary of it, and he
had the impudence to assert that there was no Composer
in England but himself.
" Even Kings and Queens were to be content with what-
ever low characters he was pleased to assign them, as it
was evident in the case of Seignior Montagnana, who,
though a King, is always obliged to act (except an angry,
rumbling song or two) the most insignificant part of the
whole Drama. This excess and abuse of power soon
disgusted the town ; his Government grew odious, and
his Opera grew empty. However, this degree of unpopu-
larity and general hatred, instead of troubling him, only
made him more furious and desperate. He resolved to
make one last effort to establish his power and fortune by
force, since he found it now impossible to hope for it from
the goodwill of mankind. In order to this, he formed a
Plan, without consulting any of his Friends (if he has any),
and declared that at a proper season he would com-
municate it to the publick, assuring us at the same time
that it would be very much for the advantage of the
publick in general and of his Operas in particular. Some
people suspect that he had settled it previously with
122 HANDEL
Signora Strada del P6, who is much in his favour ; but all
that I can advance with certainty is that he had concerted
it with a brother of his own, in whom he places a most
undeserved confidence. In this brother of his, heat and
dulness are miraculously united. The former prompts
him to do anything new and violent, while the latter
hinders him from seeing any of the inconvenience of it.
As Mr. H I's brother, he thought it was necessary he
should be a Musician too, but all he could arrive at after
a very laborious application for many years was a
moderate performance upon the Jew's Trump. He had
for some time play'd a Parte Biiffa abroad, and had
entangled his brother in several troublesome and danger-
ous engagements in the commissions he had given him to
contract with foreign performers, and from which (by the
way) Mr. H -1 did not disengage himself with much
honour. Notwithstanding all these and many more
objections, Mr. H 1, by and with the advice of his
brother, at last produces his project, resolves to cram it
down the throats of the Town, prostitutes great and
awful names as the patrons of it, and even does not
scruple to insinuate that they are to be the sharers of the
profit. His scheme set forth in substance that the late
decay of Operas was owing to their cheapness and to the
great frauds committed by the Doorkeepers ; that the
annual Subscribers were a parcel of Rogues, and made an
ill use of their tickets, by often running two into the
Gallery ; that to obviate these abuses he had contrived a
thing that was better than an Opera call'd an Oratorio, to
which none should be admitted but by Permits or Tickets
of one Guinea each, which should be distributed out of
Warehouses of his own and by Offices of his own naming,
which officers would not so reasonably be supposed to
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 123
cheat in the collection of guineas as the Doorkeepers in
the collection of half-guineas ; and lastly, that as the very
being of Operas depended upon him singly, it was just
that the profit arising from hence should be for his own
benefit. He added indeed one condition, to varnish the
whole a little, which was that if any person should think
himself aggrieved, and that the Oratorio was not worth
the price of the Permit, he should be at liberty to appeal
to three Judges of Musick, who should be obliged within
the space of seven years at farthest finally to determine
the same, provided always that the said Judges should
be of his nomination, and known to like no other Musick
but his.
" The absurdity, extravagancy, and opposition of this
scheme disgusted the whole town. Many of the most
constant attenders of the Operas resolved absolutely to
renounce them, rather than go to them under such exhorta-
tion and vexation. They exclaim'd against the insolent
and rapacious Projector of this Plan. The King's old and
sworn servants of the two Theatres of Drury Lane and
Covent Garden reap'd the benefit of this general discontent,
and were resorted to in crowds, by way of opposition to
the Oratorio. Even the fairest breasts were fired with
indignation against this new imposition. Assemblies,
Cards, Tea, Coffee, and all other female batteries were
vigorously employ'd to defeat the Project and destroy
the Projector. These joint endeavours of all ranks and
sexes succeeded so well that the Projector had the morti-
fication to see but a very thin audience in his Oratorio ;
and of about two hundred and sixty odd, that it consisted
of, it was notorious that not ten paid for their Permits,
but on the contrary had them given them, and money into
the bargain for coming to keep him in countenance.
124 HANDEL
" This accident, they say, has thrown him into a deep
Melancholy, interrupted sometimes by raving fits, in
which he fancies he sees ten thousand Opera Devils
coming to tear him in pieces ; then he breaks out into
frantick, incoherent speeches, muttering Sturdy beggars^
assassination, etc. In these delirious moments, he discovers
a particular aversion to the City. He calls them all a
parcel of Rogues, and asserts that the honestest Trader
among them deserves to be hang'd. It is much question'd
whether he will recover ; at least, if he does, it is not
doubted but he will seek for a retreat in his own Country
from the general resentment of the Town. — I am, Sir,
your very humble Servant,
" F LO R LI
" P.S. — Having seen a little Epigram, lately handed
about Town, which seems to allude to the same subject,
I believe it will not be unwelcome to your readers : —
' Quoth W e to H 1, shall we two agree
And excise the whole Nation ?
H. — Si, caro, si.
Of what use are Sheep, if the Shepherd can't shear them?
At the Haymarket I, you at Westminster.
W. — Hear him !
Call'd to order, their Seconds appear in their place
One fam'd for his Morals,^ and one for his Face."
In half they succeeded, in half they were crost :
The Excise was obtain'd, but poor Deborah lost.'"
Plainly there was a strong personal feeling against
Handel and his methods, but, after all, hard words break
no bones, and the controversy might have ended in
smoke, had not a redoubtable antagonist entered the field
^ Lord Hervey. ^ Heidegger.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 125
against the composer, no less a personage than the heir
to the throne, Frederick, Prince of Wales.
Frederick was at that time the most popular man in
England. He had landed in England four years before
at a propitious moment. The hopes founded upon the
new reign had already declined. England was cured of
any illusions she may have entertained with regard to
George 11. Vain and spiteful, mean and avaricious, the
new King soon estranged the sympathies of court and
society. Frederick, on the other hand, had many points
in his favour. His manners were charming, and he spoke
English more than tolerably. He had inherited much of
his mother's intelligence, he had a taste for art and litera-
ture, and had himself been known to trifle not unsuccess-
fully with the muse. He was generous and extravagant,
although in a continual state of impecuniosity. He liked
walking about the streets unguarded, and had a bow and
a smile for every one he met. To the common people his
taste for sport particularly endeared him. He loved horse
racing and was an enthusiastic cricketer, indeed it is said
that the abscess which ultimately caused his death was
occasioned by a blow from a cricket-ball.^ But his surest
passport to the nation's favour was his known hostility to
the King and VValpole. His father unquestionably treated
him badly. He kept him short of money, and would not
allow him a separate establishment. In revenge Frederick
threw himself into the arms of the Opposition, and played
no insignificant part in the defeat of Walpole over the
Excise Bill. Within the walls of St. James's Palace the
flame of family feud burnt still hotter. Frederick was
always at daggers-drawn with his two elder sisters, Anne
and Amelia. Anne was the musician of the family, and
1 A. E. Knight, The Complete Cricketer.
126 HANDEL
when Handel, whose pupil she had been, took the King's
Theatre she persuaded the King and Queen to subscribe
for a box, and to patronise the performances very often.
This gave the Prince a good opportunity of annoying his
sister, and of affronting the King and Queen. He was
something of a musician himself, and took violin lessons
from Dubourg. Probably he knew as well as any one that
Handel was a far better composer than any of his rivals, but
to suit his own purposes he pretended to despise Handel's
music, and he carried his perversity so far as to combine
with several of the influential subscribers in founding a
rival enterprise at Lincoln's Inn Fields with Porpora as lead-
ing composer.^ The scheme seems to have been hatched
some time in the spring of 1733, and on the 15th of June
a meeting was summoned at Hickford's Great Room
in Panton Street to discuss the plan of the campaign.
Handel's enemies were accomplished strategists. They
contrived to seduce the greater part of his company from
their allegiance. Senesino, whose conceit and rapacity
had always made him a difficult subject to manage,
revolted first, and his defection was followed by that of
Montagnana and the others, Heidegger seems also to
have severed his connection with Handel about this time.
Only Strada remained faithful to her old impresario.
For the moment, however, Handel had to turn his atten-
tion from the squabbles of pampered opera singers and
the intrigues of offended aristocrats, and hastened to
Oxford to conduct a series of performances of his oratorios.
Ever since the Revolution Oxford had been a hotbed of
Jacobitism, and the new Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Holmes, a
staunch Hanoverian, had made up his mind to do something
to bring about a better understanding between the Court
^ Hervey, Memoirs, i. 320.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 127
and the University. He determined to make a beginning
by inviting Handel, who was known to be a persona grata
to the King and Queen, to give the Oxford Jacobites a taste
of his music during the annual festivities of Commemora-
tion, or, as it was then called, the Public Act, and to receive
the degree of Doctor of Music. The second part of the
scheme went agley, for when Handel found that the degree
would cost him ;^ioo, he lost his temper and declared he
was not going to throw his money away to oblige a parcel
of blockheads ; ^ but the oratorios came off in due course,
and the occasion was rendered historical by the production
oi Athaliah on July 10. Handel had a popular success at
Oxford, but the Jacobite dons looked askance at the
Whig composer. A passage in the diary of Thomas
Hearne, the antiquary, who was a Fellow of Edmund
Hall, throws an amusing sidelight upon the opinion of
Handel and his music held by the dry-as-dust Oxford
pundits. Hearne, whose devotion to " monkish manu-
scripts " was sung by Pope,^ cared little about music and
concerts, which, according to him, only " exhausted gentle-
men's pockets and were incentives to lewdness." He had
to admit Handel's " great skill," but he was indignant at
having to give five shillings for his ticket, and a shilling
for a book of words " not worth a penny," and in his heart
of hearts he resented the action of the Vice-Chancellor in
forbidding a company of strolling players to come into
Oxford, while " Handel and his lousy crew, a great number
^ The Abbe Prevost gave his readers a different explanation of the fact
that Handel did not take his degree, and one slightly less in keeping with
Handel's character : " M. Handel s'est rendu a Oxford, mais on a ete surpris
de lui voir refuser les marques de distinction qu'on lui destinait. II n'y avait
que cette modestie qui put etre egale a ses talents." Le Pour et le Centre,
i. 123.
- Pope, liforal Essays, iv.
128 HANDEL
of foreign fiddlers," were admitted to the sacred precincts
of the Sheldonian Theatre.^
The undergraduates, too, for once agreed with the
dons in complaining of Handel's excessive charges. In a
squib of the period, Mr. Thoughtless, a Merton "blood,"
bewailing his impecuniosity, cries : " In the next place,
there's the furniture of my room procured me some
tickets to hear that bewitching music, that cursed
Handel, with his confounded Oratio's {sic); I wish him
and his company had been yelling in the infernal shades
below." 2
Handel returned to London to find the operatic
quarrel raging more fiercely than ever. Luckily, though
peers and proctors joined forces against him, he had
plenty of trusty friends left, who rallied manfully to his
standard. Arbuthnot riddled the opposition with light
artillery in Harmony in an Uproar, a squib published under
the pseudonym of " Hurlothrumbo Johnson."^ Handel
is on his trial, and the judge proceeds to detail the various
charges which he has to answer : —
" Imprimis, you are charg'd with having bewitch'd us
for the space of twenty Years past, nor do we know where
your Inchantments will end, if a timely stop is not put to
them, they threatening us with an entire Destruction of
Liberty and an absolute Tyranny in your Person over the
whole Territories of the Haymarket.
" Secondly, you have most insolently dar'd to give us
good Musick and sound Harmony when we wanted and
•^ Hearne, Reliquia Hearniance,
- The Oxfo7-d Act : A Neiv Ballad-Opera, London, 1733.
^ Arbuthnot's latest biographer, Mr. G. A. Aitken, denies his authorship
of this pamphlet, in spite of its inclusion in the collected edition of his works
published in I75i-
?Ia d'AeUer i^uoicr ?late^ f:/t€iC- oan2d oMrPc>
6f/fa^6 Ca/Q(^a. 7-€/tW(^ crr>tCy) my <^-(i,a J //('<? f(y race
d/id J'a4/<^ /tm^ 'TMj.i-L. //iff 'J^atyno/noi^/kaU
CUZZONI, FARINELLI AND HEIDEGGER
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 129
desir'd bad, to the great Encouragement of your Operas
and the ruin of our good Allies and Confederates the
Professors of bad Musick.
" Thirdly, you have most feloniously and arrogantly
assum'd to yourself an uncontroul'd Property of pleasing
us, whether we would or no, and have often been so bold
as to charm us, when we were positively resolv'd to be out
of Humour."
Then come more special charges, in which we can
discern a sly hit at the " Academics " of the day, the
learned professors who maintained that nobody could
compose unless he had taken a degree at Oxford or
Cambridge.
" First then, Sir, have you taken your Degree ? Boh !
Ha, ha, ha ! Are you a Doctor, Sir? A fine Composer
indeed and not a Graduate ! . . . Why, Doctor Pushpin
(Pepusch) and Doctor Blue (Greene) laugh at you and
scorn to keep you company, ... I understand you have
never read Euclid, are a declar'd Foe to all the proper
Modes and Forms and Tones of Musick, and scorn to be
subservient to or ty'd up by Rules or have your Genius
cramp'd. Thou Goth and Vandal to just Sounds ! We
may as well place Nightingales and Canary birds behind
the Scenes, and take the wild Operas of Nature from them
as allow you to be a Composer."
But the time for words was over. The combatants
were already on the terrain^ and the duel was to be fought
a outrance. Handel snatched a brief holiday after his
visit to Oxford, and, accompanied by his friend Schmidt,
took a hasty trip to the Continent in search of new singers.
In Italy he heard Farinelli, then a young man and com-
paratively unknown, and Carestini. Unfortunately for
his pocket he preferred the latter, whom he at once
9
I30 HANDEL
engaged and brought back with him to England.^ He
opened his season on the 30th of October, the King's
birthday, and was honoured by the presence of the court,
even the Prince of Wales being compelled by etiquette to
put in an appearance. A few weeks later his new castrato,
Carestini, made his appearance.
Carestini was undoubtedly a very great singer, but he
had the misfortune in his earlier days to be eclipsed by
Senesino, and in his later by Farinelli. His voice, originally
a soprano, had sunk by this time to " the fullest, finest,
and deepest counter-tenor that has perhaps ever been
heard." ^ Hasse said of him that whoever had not heard
Carestini was unacquainted with the most perfect style of
singing. He was a great success in London, the more so
as Senesino's voice was distinctly not what it had been.
Arbuthnot, indeed, rudely speaks of the latter as " almost
past his Business." ^
The rival company — the Opera of the Nobility, as it
pompously called itself — opened its season in the Lincoln's
Inn Fields Theatre on the 29th of December 1733 with
Porpora's Ariadne. Handel replied with an Ariadne of
his own, produced on the 26th of January 1734, and so the
struggle went on. Carestini was Handel's trump card,
but his other singers were nothing very much to boast of
Lady Bristol tells us all about them in a letter to her
husband : " I am just come home from a dull empty
opera {Caio Fabrizio^ a pasticcio), tho' the second time.
The first was full to hear the new man (Carestini), who I
can find out to be an extream good singer. The rest are
all scrubbs, except old Durastanti, that sings as well as
ever she did." ^ Party feeling ran high between the two
^ Hawkins, History, v. 318. - Burney, History, iv. 369.
^ Harmony iti an Uproar, 39. * Letter Book of /ohn Hervey, iii.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 131
opera-houses and their supporters. Everybody who had
a grudge against the court went to Lincoln's Inn Fields
in order to curry favour with the Prince. The King and
Queen cared little about music, but they were very much
annoyed at Frederick's behaviour, which they regarded as
a personal slight. They made a point of patronising
Handel as much as possible, and, as Lord Hervey says,
"sat freezing constantly at the empty Haymarket Opera."
Unfortunately for Handel, the King was at that time
extremely unpopular, and the presence of the court at his
theatre by no means implied full houses.
" The affair," Hervey continues, " grew as serious as
that of the Greens and the Blues under Justinian at
Constantinople. An anti-Handelian was looked upon as an
anti-courtier, and voting against the court in Parliament was
hardly a less remissible or more venial sin than speaking
against Handel or going to the Lincoln's Inn Fields Opera.
The Princess Royal said she expected in a little while to
see half the House of Lords playing in the orchestra at
the latter house in their robes and coronets ; and the
King — though he declared he took no other part in this
affair than subscribing ^1000 a year to Handel — often
added at the same time that ' he did not think setting
oneself at the head of a faction of fiddlers a very honourable
occupation for people of quality, or the ruin of one poor
fellow so generous or so good-natured a scheme as to do
much honour to the undertakers, whether they succeeded
or not ; but the better they succeeded in it, the more he
thought they would have reason to be ashamed of it' " ^
Meanwhile Handel's old enemy, Bononcini, had dis-
appeared from the scene, accused of having palmed
off a madrigal of Lotti's upon the Academy of Ancient
^ Hervey, Metnoirs, i. 320.
1 3 2 HANDEL
Music as a work of his own. The matter was much dis-
cussed at the time, and Bononcini had every opportunity
given him of justifying his action. He preferred, however,
to remain silent, so the case was given against him, and
he left England for ever, disappointed and disgraced.
The great social excitement of the year was the
marriage of the Princess Royal to William, Prince of
Orange. The match could hardly be called a brilliant
one, since the Prince was not of royal rank, was as
poor as a church mouse, and deformed into the bargain.
Princess Anne did not pretend to care about him, and
the King and Queen snubbed him unmercifully. When
he arrived at St. James's Palace, Anne was surrounded
by a bevy of her favourite opera singers, and refused to
leave the harpsichord in order to greet her fiance. How-
ever, the marriage was popular throughout the country,
partly as a guarantee for the Protestant succession, and
partly because of the magic that still hung round the name
of Orange. The wedding took place on the 14th of March.
Handel wrote an anthem for the occasion, or rather
compiled one, for the work in question, " This is the day,"
was made up entirely of selections from his earlier works
The Princess's marriage gave birth to yet another work,
the serenata Parnasso in Festa, which was performed the
day before the wedding, at the Haymarket Theatre, before
the King and all the Royal Family. This also was largely
a compilation, being taken principally from Athaliah
which having only been given at Oxford was not yet
familiar to London audiences.
In Anne, Handel lost a friend whose enthusiasm was
only equalled by her indiscretion. She was devoted to
her old preceptor and his music, yet by stirring up the
Prince of Wales against him she indirectly inflicted upon
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 133
him the severest injury that he ever had to endure. Yet
Handel owed much to her. The frequent grants " to the
undertakers of the Opera to discharge their debts " which
appear in the Treasury Papers during Handel's tenancy
of the King's Theatre, may be traced to her amiable
influence. She trained her sisters, too, to be thorough-
going Handelians — though Amelia was much more at
home on horseback than in her box at the opera, and the
gentle Caroline never pretended to be the musician that
Anne was. Nevertheless, we find Handel still drawing
his i^20o a year as their music master some years after
Anne's marriage.^ But court favour could not ensure
Handel against ill-luck and the injuries of determined
enemies. His lease of the Haymarket Theatre expired
in July 1734, and before he could renew it, his rivals, by
a clever piece of sharp practice, stepped in and secured the
theatre for themselves. Worse still, they strengthened
their company by the addition of the famous Farinelli,
the most prodigiously gifted singer of the age, who had
already turned the heads of all the amateurs on the
Continent, and was shortly to throw Senesino, Carestini,
and all the rest into the shade, so far as England was
concerned. But Handel never knew what it was to be
beaten. He accepted the inevitable, and hastened to
secure the new theatre in Covent Garden which had
been built a few years before by John Rich. His mana-
gerial worries do not seem to have affected his spirits in
the least. We have a pleasant glimpse of him at a musical
party at Mrs. Delany's about this time. "Mr. Handel
was in the best humour in the world," wrote the hostess
to her sister. " He played lessons and accompanied
Strada and all the ladies that sung, from seven o'clock till
' Treasury Papers, 1736.
134 HANDEL
eleven. I gave them tea and coffee, and about half an
hour after nine had a salver brought in of chocolate,
mulled white wine, and biscuits. Everybody was easy
and seemed pleased."^ Meanwhile Handel's plans were
slightly modified by the claims of his old friend Anne, now
Princess of Orange, who had been spending the summer
in England, and wanted to hear some music before
rejoining her husband at the Hague. So, to oblige her,
Handel took the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and
opened a short season there on the 5 th of October
1734, relying chiefly upon Ariadne and // Pastor Fido,
which had been revived with great success during the
previous season in a much revised and altered form.
In November he moved to the far more convenient theatre
in Covent Garden, signalising his arrival in his new
quarters by the production of a ballet, TerpsichorCy played
as a prologue to // Pastor Fido, in which the French
ballerina Mile. Salle, who had already danced herself into
the favour of London audiences in Rich's pantomimes at
Lincoln's Inn Fields, made her appearance. He also pro-
duced a pasticcio selected from his own works, entitled
Oi'estes. These were followed by a new opera, Ariodante
(8th January 1735). Carestini was still with Handel, but
even the magic of his mellifluous voice was powerless in the
face of the brilliant galaxy of talent which the opposition
had assembled at the King's Theatre. Farinelli, Senesino
Cuzzoni, and Montagnana formed, indeed, a combina-
tion that was hard to beat — and harder still to pay,
as the aristocratic directors found ere long to their
cost.
The Farinelli furore soon reached the borders of
positive insanity. " On aimait les autres," wrote the Abb6
^ Delany, Correspondence, vol. i.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 135
Prevost, " pour celui-ci, on en est idolatre; c'est une fureur." ^
His singing entranced even a jealous rival like Senesino,
who, when they first appeared together, burst into tears
at the conclusion of Farinelli's first song, and, forgetful
of all else, ran across the stage and threw himself into
Farinelli's arms. What his audiences thought of him
may be summed up in the 'famous exclamation wrung from
a too impressionable dame, and afterwards immortalised
by Hogarth in " The Rake's Progress " : " One God, one
Farinelli ! " But the enthusiasm of his English admirers
took a more practical form. The Prince of Wales gave
him a gold snuff-box set with diamonds and rubies, con-
taining a pair of diamond knee buckles and a purse
of a hundred guineas ; and society followed suit to such
purpose that though Farinelli's salary was only ;^i5oo,
he contrived during his stay in London to make no less
than ;^5ooo a year. On his return to Italy he built a
villa with the proceeds of his trip to England, which he
not inaptly christened the " English Folly." In the face
of the general infatuation for Farinelli, Handel and his
" scrubbs " were helpless, and his enemies triumphed over
his defeat. In a private letter of the 27th of December
1734 in the Th'ockuw7'ton Papers we read : " I don't pity
Handel in the least, for I hope this mortification will make
him a human creature ; for I am sure before he was no
better than a brute, when he could treat civilised people
with so much brutality as I know he has done." ^
With the approach of Lent, Handel turned his energies
in the far more profitable direction of oratorio. With
his second-rate company he could scarcely hope to
compete with the brilliant operatic performances at the
^ Le Potir et le Contre, v. 204.
^ Historical MSS. Commission, Appendix to 3rd Report.
136 HANDEL
Haymarket, but in oratorio he was supreme, and Porpora's
attempt to rival him on his own ground by producing his
oratorio David only recoiled on his own head. During
Lent Esther was given six times, Deborah thrice, and
AthaliaJi five times — a sufficient proof that London
was steadily learning to cultivate a taste for the new
art-form.
An interesting feature of this year's oratorio season
was the intoduction of organ concertos between the acts,
as they were still called. Handel's fingers had not lost
their old cunning, and his performance was extremely
popular. Mrs. Delany wrote of it to her mother : " My
sister gave you an account of Mr, Handel's playing here
for three hours together. I did wish for you, for no
entertainment in music could exceed it, except his playing
on the organ in Esther, where he performs a part in two
concertos, that are the finest things I ever heard in my
life."i
Another event of the season worth recording is the
first appearance under Handel's standard of the famous
tenor, John Beard. Beard had sung as a boy in the
performance of Esther given in 1732 at Bernard Gates's
house by the choristers of the Chapel Royal. He is
referred to in a letter of Lady Elizabeth Compton's, dated
the 2ist of November 1734. "A Scholar of Mr. Gates,
Beard, who left the Chapel last Easter, shines in the
opera of Covent Garden, and Mr. Handel is so full of
his Praises that he says he will surprise the Town with
his performance before the Winter is over."^ Beard
seems only to have sung minor roles until 1736, when he
took the principal tenor part in Alexander's Feast. He
^ Delany, Correspondence, vol. i.
^ Hisiorital MSS. Commisson, Report xi. Appendix, pt. 4.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 137
afterwards sang in many of Handel's oratorios, notably in
Israel in Egypt, Samson, and Jephtha.
When Lent was over, Handel returned to opera, and in
Alcina (i6th April 1735) scored one of the most brilliant
successes of his career, though the dances, with which
the opera was liberally besprinkled, were not well re-
ceived, and Mile. Salle, who seems to have quite outlived
her popularity, was actually hissed.^ Mrs. Delany writes
of Alcina with special enthusiasm : " Yesterday morning
my sister and I went to Mr. Handel's house to hear the
first rehearsal of the new opera Alcina. I think it is the
best he ever made, but I have thought so of so many, that
I will not say positively 'tis the finest, but 'tis so fine
I have not words to describe it. Strada has a whole
scene of charming recitative — there are a thousand
beauties. Whilst Mr. Handel was playing his part,
I could not help thinking him a necromancer in the
midst of his own enchantments." Handel had, of course,
the usual trouble with his singers. Carestini grew restive
under his dictatorship, and refused to sing the lovely air
" Verdi prati." " You dog ! " cried the composer, " Don't
I know better as yourself what is good for you to sing ?
If you will not sing all the songs what I give you, I will
not pay you a stiver." Carestini sang the song, and with
it scored one of his most brilliant triumphs, but he never
forgave the composer, and left the company at the end of
the season. Deprived of his leading man, and unable at
the moment to find an adequate substitute, Handel was
reduced to silence. He thought it was wiser to keep his
theatre closed, than to open it in a despairing attempt
to compete with his invincible rivals in the Hay market.
In the following year, however, he entered the lists with
^ Prevost, Le Pour et le Centre, vi. 35.
138 HANDEL
a new choral work, Alexander's Feast, which was produced
on the 19th of February with overwhelming success.
Musical criticism figures so rarely in the newspapers of
the day, that the London Daily Post's observations are
worth recording: "There never was upon the like
occasion so numerous and splendid an audience at any
theatre in London, there being at least thirteen hundred
persons present ; and it is judged that the receipt of the
house could not amount to less than ;^450. It met with
general applause, though attended with the inconvenience
of having the performers placed at too great a distance
from the audience, which we hear will be rectified the
next time of performance." The success of Alexanders
Feast must have cheered Handel more than a little, but
hard work and the incessant worries of a managerial life
had already begun to tell seriously upon his health.
During the past few years he had paid several visits to
Tunbridge Wells, but the baths there had done him little
good, and he was troubled by presages of approaching
calamity.
The marriage of the Prince of Wales to Princess
Augusta of Saxe-Gotha roused him to fresh activity. He
wrote a new wedding anthem, " Sing unto God," which was
duly performed at the ceremony in the Chapel Royal on
the 27th of April 1736, and he opened a short opera season
on the 5th of May, the principal interest of which centred in
the production of Atalanta on the 12th of May. Atalanta,
being written to celebrate the Royal marriage, was of an
appropriately festive character. It ended with a nuptial
chorus in the Temple of Hymen, and a display of fireworks.
Atalanta seems to have won the Prince of Wales's heart,
or, more probably, the departure of the Princess Royal
removed his only reason for objecting to Handel's music.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 139
At any rate, from this time forth he was a cordial sup-
porter of the Covent Garden opera, while the King, who
was determined, whatever happened, never to be on the
same side as his son, discontinued his support. The
opposition at the King's Theatre, not to be outdone by-
Handel, produced a marriage cantata, La Festa (flmeneo,
by Porpora ; but in spite of Farinelli's singing it fell lament-
ably flat, and was only given two or three times. The
truth was that Farinelli had already outstayed his welcome.
He had been the wonder of an hour, but the fickle public
was getting tired of him and of the rubbishy operas in
which he sung, and was on the look-out for a new ex-
citement.
" When I went out of Town last autumn," wrote Mrs.
Delany to Swift, " the reigning madness was Farinelli ; I
find it now turned on Pasquin} a dramatic satire on the
times. It has had almost as long a run as the Beggar s
Opera, but in my opinion not with equal merit, though it
has humour."
With the opening of the autumn season, Handel's hopes
rose high. The Haymarket opera was on its last legs.
Senesino had already gone home, and Farinelli was
beginning to think about taking his departure. Handel
now had the Prince and Princess of Wales on his side,
and his company was strengthened by the accession of
several new and promising recruits. Mrs. Delany was in
high spirits : " At the Haymarket," she wrote, " they have
Farinelli, Merighi, — with no sound in her voice, but
thundering action, a beauty with no other merit, — and one
Chimenti, a tolerable good woman with a pretty voice,
and Montagnana who roars as usual ! With this band of
singers and dull Italian operas, such as you almost fall
' By Henry Fielding.
I40 HANDEL
asleep at, they presume to rival Handel, who has Strada,
that sings better than ever she did, Gizziello,^ who is much
improved since last year, and Annibali,^ who has the best
part of Senesino's voice and Carestino's, with a prodigious
fine taste and good action, . . . Mr. Handel has two new
operas ready, Anninius and Giustino. He was here two
or three mornings ago, and played to me both the over-
tures, which are charming." ^
Handel worked with the courage of despair. His
expenses had been heavy, and with the advent of his new
singers would be heavier still, but hope sprang eternal in
his breast. The approaching collapse of the Haymarket
opera, which was an open secret, nerved him to fresh
efforts. During the spring of 1737 he produced no fewer
than three new operas, Arminio (January 12), Giustino
(February 16), and Berenice (May 18), besides revising his
thirty-year-old Italian oratorio, // Trionfo del Tempo,
for the Lenten performances. No constitution, however
Herculean, could stand such a strain, and the inevitable
breakdown came in the middle of April. By the end of
the month Handel was a little better, and the London
Daily Post was able to announce that " Mr. Handel, who
had been some time indisposed with the rheumatism, is in
so fair a way of recovery that it is hoped he will be able to
accompany the opera oi Justin on the 24th of May." He
contrived to pull himself together, but before the end of
the season came another collapse. This time it was
useless to disguise the fact that the malady was paralysis,
' Gioachino Conti, called Gizziello after his master Gizzi. He ?iad a high
soprano voice, and his style was remarkable for delicacy and refinement. He
made his English debut in Atalaiita.
• Domenico Annibali, a contralto who came to London from Dresden.
^ Delany, Correspondence, vol. i.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 141
which completely crippled his right hand, complicated by-
serious brain trouble.^ The mighty Handel was reduced
to a state bordering upon childishness, and it was only
with the greatest difficulty that his friends could induce
him to start for Aix-la-Chapelle, where it was hoped that
the sulphur baths would cure him. By the side of this
grievous affliction the final failure of his operatic enterprise
seemed a trifle. A failure it was, disastrous and complete.
When Covent Garden closed its doors on the ist of June,
Handel was a bankrupt. The savings of a lifetime,
amounting to iS^ 1 0,000, were scattered to the winds, and
his creditors — artists and tradesmen alike — had to be
satisfied with bills. To the credit of mankind be it
recorded, that in all cases, save that of Signor del P6,
Strada's husband, they were accepted, and in due time
redeemed. It was a poor consolation to Handel that in
ruining him his opponents had ruined themselves. The
Haymarket opera struggled on for ten days longer, when
the unexpected departure of Farinelli brought matters to
a sudden and ignoble collapse. The rival enterprises had
devoured each other, and the town turned with a sigh of
relief from their futile struggles to the broad humours of
The Dragon of Wantley, in which the pompous inanity
of grand opera was mercilessly parodied. The somewhat
obvious fun of Henry Carey's burlesque delighted the
King, who kept poor dying Queen Caroline from her bed
by his interminable descriptions of the dragon's antics,^
and Lampe's vivacious music extorted an approving smile
even from Handel, overwhelmed as he was with debt and
disaster.^
The end was perhaps inevitable, nor in the interests
^ Shaftesbury Biographical Sketch.
^ Hervey, Memoirs, iii. 295. ^ IVentworth Papers, p. 539.
142 HANDEL
of art much to be deplored. Opera in England then, as
now, was an exotic. It had no root in the affections of
the general public ; it merely catered for the whimsies of
a pleasure-seeking aristocracy. None save a very select
few pretended to think that the entertainment was any-
thing more than a social festivity. The beaux and belles
of the day went to hear Senesino and Farinelli, just as
our modern grandees go to hear Melba and Tetrazzini, and
cared little or nothing what music they listened to. The
flame of partisanship burnt fiercely for a while. People
quarrelled passionately over rival houses and rival singers,
but the very excesses into which their frenzy led them
brought about a speedy reaction.
Sensible people like Mrs. Delany realised very soon
that all the strife and partisanship did not imply any real
interest in music. " Our operas," she wrote to Swift,
" have given much cause of dissension. Men and women
have been deeply engaged, and no debate in the House of
Commons has been urged with more warmth. The dispute
of the merits of the composers and singers is carried to so
great a height, that it is much feared by all true lovers
of music that operas will be quite overturned. I own I
think we make a very silly figure about it." ^ Nothing is
so healthy for the cause of art as discussions and debate
or even a good hand-to-hand fight, when the difference
of opinion springs from genuine interest and enthusiasm.
But the operatic wars of the eighteenth century were
merely the squabbles of idle children over their play-
things. A new toy caught their eye, and their once
cherished puppets were cast upon the dust-heap. The
mournful part of the business from our point of view is
that one of the puppets was a man of genius.
^ Delany, Correspondence^ vol. i.
STRUGGLES AND DEFEATS 143
But Handel emerged uninjured, if breathless, from the
struggle. The mire of aristocratic intrigue had not sullied
his garments. Even in that murky atmosphere the flame
of his genius burnt clear and pure. Whoever had cause
to blush, he had none. He had worked loyally in the
cause of art through all dangers and difficulties, and he
could look back upon those anxious years of toil and
endeavour without shame or regret. He had cast his
pearls before swine, and had seen them trampled under
foot. He had learned his lesson in a hard school, and had
paid dearly for it. At last it was over, and the experience
that he had bought at so ruinous a price was in the end
to lead him to a wider immortality than any that could be
conferred by the fickle favour of courts and courtiers.
CHAPTER X
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 1737-1741
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE made a new man of Handel ;
indeed, he recovered his health so rapidly under
the genial influence of the waters, that the good people of
the place were inclined to believe that a miracle had been
wrought on behalf of their famous visitor. While he was
at Aix, Handel seems to have made the acquaintance of
some honest burghers from the city of Elbing, near the
Baltic coast. Elbing was preparing to celebrate the five-
hundredth anniversary of her foundation, and Handel,
whose speedy recovery had had the effect of putting him
into an unusually amiable frame of mind, consented to
join forces with a local musician in composing a cantata
for the occasion. Records of the work exist, but the
music has unfortunately disappeared.^
Another story, told by Coxe in his Anecdotes of Handel,
seems to refer to Handel's " cure " at Aix, though it is
difficult to make it fit in with the facts. Frederick the
Great was on his way to the baths, and hearing that
Handel was there sent a messenger to say that he wished
to see him. Presumably the message was couched, or at
least delivered, in what Handel considered insolent terms,
^ Doering, " Die Musik im Preussen." {Monatshefte fiir Mtisikgeschichte,
i. I55-)
X44
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 145
at any rate his back was up in a moment, and he left the
place a few days before the arrival of the King. The only
objection to this interesting anecdote is that Frederick
was not at xA.ix nor anywhere in its neighbourhood in
the year 1737. His only visit to Aix, which he thought
" le pays le plus sot que je connaisse," took place in
September 1741, while Handel was writing The Messiah
in London, It is certainly a pity that Frederick never
happened to meet Handel. He was himself a musician,
and the man who silenced the chatter of his courtiers
with the words : " Gentlemen, the great Bach has arrived,"
could hardly have failed to appreciate Handel.
Handel left Aix in October, and returned to England
via Flanders. In Lord Shaftesbury's BiograpJiical Sketch
there is an anecdote relating to the journey which has not,
I think, been printed before : " His recovery was so com-
plete that in his return thence to England he was able
to play long voluntaries upon the organ. In one of the
great towns of Flanders, where he had asked permission
to play, the organist attended him, not knowing who he
was, and seemed struck with Mr. Handel's playing when
he began. But when he heard Mr. Handel lead off a
fugue, in astonishment he ran up to him, and embracing
him said, ' You can be no other but the great Handel.'"
Handel reached London early in November, " greatly
recovered in health." ^
He arrived only just in time to add his private sorrow
to the general grief of the nation at the death of Queen
Caroline, who expired after a short illness on the 20th of
November. No English sovereign was ever more widely
or genuinely mourned. Over her coffin king and clod-
hopper mingled their tears. George II showed his
1 London Daily Post, 7th November 1737.
10
146 HANDEL
sorrow in peculiarly characteristic fashion, but of its
sincerity there cannot be a doubt. Though his in-
fidelities had been notorious, his respect for Caroline's
talents and his admiration of her virtues had never
wavered. On her death-bed she entreated him to marry
again. " Non, non," he whimpered, "j'aurai des mai-
tresses." " Mon Dieu," she replied, remembering her own
experiences, " cela n'empeche pas."
The King was inconsolable for many months after her
death, and seems to have been a prey to strange super-
stitions. Duchess Sarah tells an odd story of his
behaviour at the card-table : " Some queens were dealt
to him, which renewed his trouble so much, and put him
into so great disorder, that the Princess Amelia immedi-
ately ordered all the queens to be taken out of the pack." ^
The King's thoughts ran upon ghosts and vampires. Lord
VVentworth gives a curious illustration of his superstitious
terror : " Saturday night between one and two o'clock, the
King waked out of a dream very uneasy, and ordered the
vault, where the Queen is, to be broken open immediately,
and have the coffin also opened ; and went in a hackney
chair through the Horse Guards to Westminster Abbey,
and back again to bed. I think it is the strangest thing
that could be." -
Handel was not troubled by the King's childish fancies,
but his grief was scarcely less profound. Caroline was
one of his oldest friends. He had met her first when
they were children together at the court of Berlin, He
had learnt to know her better at Hanover, and since they
had been in England she had always been his staunchest
patroness and supporter. He poured forth his sorrow in
^ Correspondence of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, vol. ii.
- Wentworth Papers, p. 538.
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 147
the marvellous strains of the Funeral Anthem, " The
ways of Zion do mourn," which was performed at
the ceremony in Westminster Abbey, on the 17th of
December, a noble tribute to a great and good woman,
which for sublimity of thought and expression Handel
himself rarely surpassed.
Handel's recent experiences in the arena of Italian
opera were not calculated to make him anxious to return
to the fray. But beggars cannot be choosers ; his debts
were still unpaid, and his creditors were pressing. When
therefore he was approached by Heidegger,^ who had
gathered together the wreck and remnant of the two
companies that had failed in the summer, and with char-
acteristic energy had started a season at the King's
Theatre, he felt it his duty to enter into negotiations
with his quondam partner. After some deliberation it
was agreed that for a consideration of ;^iooo Handel
should supply Heidegger with two new operas, and should
arrange a pasticcio from his earlier works. It must have
been gall and wormwood to Handel to be forced once
more into business relations with the man who had
behaved so badly to him at a time when he most needed
friends, but Handel was nothing if not conscientious, and
he felt that his own feelings must give way. The operas
were dashed off at lightning speed, and duly produced,
^ Heidegger is usually supposed to have been responsible for the season,
as the advertisements relative to the subscription that appeared in the news-
papers were signed by him, but Lord Shaftesbury's Biographical Sketch
distinctly says that Handel composed Faramondo and Serse " for the
gentlemen at the Haymarket," so it is probable that Heidegger was backed
by a board of aristocratic directors similar to that presided over by Lord
Middlesex in 1741. Lord Middlesex himself does not appear to have begun
to dabble in management until 1739, when Mrs. Delany mentions that he
was " chief undertaker " of a season of concerts at the Haymarket Theatre.
148 HANDEL
Faramondo on the 7th of January, and Serse on the 15th
of April 1738. The pasticcio was Alessandro Severe,
which with a few new songs and a new and very fine
overture was given on the 25th of February.
Heidegger's company included some good singers.
Caffarelli, a contralto, was the most famous of them ; but
Francesina, a youthful soprano with a pretty voice and
what Burney calls " a lark-like execution," and Marchesini,
called La Lucchesina, were both of them artists of high
quality. Montagnana, with his thundering bass voice,
was also engaged. Caffarelli was thought by many
critics to be superior to Farinelli, but he did not make
much of a success in London. He is said to have been
in bad health during his sojourn here, and he came at
an unfortunate time — when society had been sated with
Italian opera, and was weary of the endless quarrels and
rivalries which seemed to be its inevitable accompaniment.^
The season was a calamitous one, and the only time
that the theatre was full was on the 20th of March, when
Handel was constrained by his friends to take a " benefit."
It is easy to understand how distasteful to a man of his
independent spirit it must have been to accept a favour
of this kind, but circumstances forbade him to stand
upon his dignity. Del P6, who was still one of his
principal creditors, was more insistent than ever, and even
threatened the composer with a debtors' prison. The
^ Caffarelli's insolence and conceit caused him to be as heartily disliked as
Farinelli was beloved for his amiability. He lived to a good old age, and
retained his voice almost to the last. Burney heard him at Naples in 1770,
when he was sixty-seven. "Though his voice was thin," he remarks, "it
was easy to imagine, from what he was still able to do, that his voice and
talents had been of the very first class." He was then living in a sumptuous
house of his own building, over the door of which was inscribed the legend,
" Amphion Thebas, ego domum."
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 149
" benefit " had the effect of stopping his greedy mouth.
It realised a large sum of money, according to Burney
£800, according to Mainvvaring ^1500, but at any rate
enough to stave off the more pressing claims and to give
the composer time to look around him. Another graceful
compliment was paid to his genius about this time, in the
erection of a marble statue of him by the rising young
sculptor Roubillac, or Roubiliac, as he is usually called in
English, in Vauxhall Gardens, a popular place of resort,
which had been opened in 1732, where Handel's music
was often performed.^
After the close of the opera season on the 5th of June,
Handel probably left London. Between the 23rd of July
and the 27th of September he was engaged upon the
composition of Saii/, the libretto of which is believed to
have been the work of Charles Jennens,- who later
adapted Milton's L Allegro ed il Penseroso for Handel,
and furnished him with the text of TJie Messiah. Handel
had a sincere regard for Jennens, and often stayed at his
country house at Gopsall in Leicestershire. If Jennens
wrote Saul, it is likely enough that he invited Handel to
spend the summer with him, the advantage to librettist
and composer alike of being under the same roof being
undeniable. Jennens was one of those men whose char-
acter is very difficult to reconstruct from contemporary
^ This statue, after passing through many hands, is now the property of
Mr. Alfred Littleton, the head of the firm of Novello & Co. It stands in the
entrance hall of Messrs. Novello's beautiful new place of business in Wardour
Street.
^ A letter of Handel's to Jennens is extant, written in 1735, acknowledging
the receipt of an oratorio of which he writes : " What I could read of it in
haste gave me a great deal of satisfaction. " There is no reason for doubting
that the work referred to was Saul, the next in order of Handel's oratorios,
the authorship of which was never acknowledged.
I50 HANDEL
evidence. He was rich, generous and eccentric, and had
an excellent conceit of himself. He was surrounded by
parasites who flattered him and often lured him into
making a fool of himself by writing about things that he
did not understand, as, for instance, in his controversy with
Dr. Johnson and George Steevens about Shakespeare.
At the same time he was a staunch friend and a bene-
volent and hospitable neighbour, besides being a man of
considerable culture. During his quarrel with Steevens a
friend of his wrote : " I assert that Mr. Jennens is a man
of abilities ; is conversant in the Polite Arts ; that he
understands Musick, Poetry and Painting. I appeal to
the catalogue of his Pictures, which bear all the living
testimony that Pictures can bear of original and intrinsic
merit. His taste in Musick is still less disputable — the
compilation of The Messiah has been ever attributed to
him. Handel generally consulted him, and to the time of
his death lived with him in the strictest intimacy and
regard. Was Handel so mean and despicable as to offer
incense at the shrine of Ignorance?"' Jennens loved
display. In his youth the splendour of his household
earned him the nickname of " Solyman the Magnificent."
All through his life he made a point of doing things in
the grand style. If he wanted to go from his town house
in Great Ormond Street to call on his printer in Red
Lion Passage, he must needs travel with four servants
behind his carriage. When he alit, a footman walked
before him up the paved passage, to kick oyster-shells
and other impediments out of his way. At Gopsall
Handel had the advantage of tranquillity, comfort and
congenial society, for Jennens was a bachelor like himself.
It is perhaps worth noting that fifty years after Handel's
^ Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. iii.
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 151
death a tradition existed to the effect that some at any
rate of his oratorios were composed at Gopsall, A local
parson contributed the following note to Nichols's Literary
Anecdotes: " I know not whether you are ^ware that there
is a probability, I think almost an immediate proof, that
Handel's oratorios took their rise in this county. The
rich Mr. Jennens of Gopsall was a man of great piety,
beneficence and taste in the fine arts. He built a mag-
nificent house, and in it a beautiful chapel, in which he
read prayers to his family daily. Handel (who, you know,
loved good living) was often his guest, as also Dr. Bentley
of Nailston, his neighbour, nephew of the great Bentley.
1 have heard that the idea of the oratorios was Mr.
Jennens's, and Dr. Bentley furnished the words." If Dr.
Bentley, who by the way was a scholar of some considera-
tion and his famous uncle's literary executor,^ had any
hand in the production of Saul, the world has good reason
to be grateful to him ; and still more so if he was in any
way responsible for Israel in Egypt, which Handel began
four days after he had finished Saul. It would be
interesting to know what first led Handel to undertake
the composition of his gigantic epic, so different in aim
and structure from any of his previous works. It is plain
that originally he had no idea of writing anything in the
received oratorio form. He began with what is now the
second part, the autograph of which is headed " Moses'
^ He was christened Richard after his uncle, but is often confused with
another of the great Bentley's nephews, Thomas, whom Pope attacked in the
Dimciad : —
" Bentley his mouth with classic flattery opes
And the puff'd orator bursts out in tropes."
Thomas Bentley was a friend of Byrom's, and wrote him amusing letters
from abroad, which are published in Byrom's Remains.
I 5 2 HANDEL
Song, Exodus, chapter xv." Apparently he intended
something in the nature of an anthem, but the subject
fascinated him, and when he had finished the second part,
he wrote the first part as a kind of prelude. Saul and
Israel were both produced during the following year at
the King's Theatre, which Handel hired from Heidegger
for his oratorio concerts — Saul on January i6, and Israel
on April 4, 1739.
In the case of Saul, Handel, who like many other
great composers was accused by his contemporaries of
a passion for mere noise, took pains to add a special
touch of dignity to the famous Dead March. " I hear,"
wrote young Lord Wentworth to his father, "that Mr.
Handel has borrowed from the Duke of Argyll a pair
of the largest kettle-drums in the Tower ; so to be sure it
will be most excessive noisy with a bad set of singers.
I doubt it will not retrieve his former losses."^ Saul,
however, was on the whole a success, being given six
times during the season. Israel, on the other hand, seems
to have been above the heads of the audiences of that day.
After the first performance, it was only thrice repeated,
and in a form altered to fit it more harmoniously
to the taste of the day, according to the advertisement :
" shortened and intermixed with songs." It must have been
a bitter pill to Handel to be compelled to mutilate his great
work to suit the artistic depravity of London audiences.
The songs introduced were not the adaptations of Italian
airs to Biblical words that are now occasionally given
in performances of the oratorio, but popular airs from
his earlier works and some new Italian songs apparently
written for the occasion, which were thrust into Israel
without the semblance of any appropriateness. A further
1 Wentworth Papers, p. 543.
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 153
alteration was the introduction of the Funeral Anthem,
which was performed at the beginning of the oratorio,
the words being altered so as to apply to the death of
Joseph. In spite of these almost cynical concessions to
popular taste, Israel did not please. A few voices, how-
ever, cried in the desert. Two anonymous admirers
poured forth their enthusiasm in letters to the London
Daily Post} but the general public was not to be beguiled.
By the middle of April the new oratorios seem to have
exhausted their powers of attraction, and Handel fell
back upon a different kind of entertainment. On the
26th an advertisement appeared in the London Daily Post
to this effect: "On Tuesday next, ist May, will be per-
formed, at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, a
dramatical composition c2l\{q^ Jtipiter in Argos^ intermixed
with choruses, and two concertos on the organ." What
Jupiter in Argos exactly was is now difficult to deter-
mine. The autograph has disappeared, all save the last
leaf, which is preserved in the Fitzwilliam Library at
Cambridge, and bears the inscription : " Fine dell' opera
Jupiter in Argos, April 24, 1739. G. F. Handel."
Although Handel called it an opera, the terms used in
the advertisement point rather to its being something
of the same kind as Parnasso in Fcsta, which was still
far from having lost its popularity. Probably it was a
pasticcio, hastily put together to meet the emergency,
but no proof of its having been actually performed can
be adduced.
If the season as a whole had turned out a failure, it
is hardly fair to lay all the blame upon London society.
The political excitement of the time was unfavourable to
music or to art of any kind. War was in the air, and
' See Appendix B.
154 HANDEL
Bellona elbowed Polyhymnia from the field. John Bull
had awoke from his long sleep, and wanted to go out
and fight somebody.
Walpole and his peace policy had ruled the roost for
thirty years. He had made England the greatest com-
mercial nation in the world ; he had doubled her income,
and given her peace and prosperity. But in a moment he
and his benefits were forgotten. The lust of war de-
scended upon the nation, and all peaceful interests bent
before the storm of martial ardour.
The " Patriots," as the Opposition called themselves,
were always on the look out for sticks wherewith to beat
Walpole. They found one ready to their hand in the
supposed aggression of our historic enemy, Spain. We
were, as usual, entirely in the wrong. In defiance of the
Treaty of Utrecht, our traders had for years been carrying
on a roaring trade — largely in slaves — with the Spanish
colonies. In vain the Spanish authorities had endeavoured
to put some check upon this vast system of smuggling.
From time to time brushes with our privateers occurred,
and now and then Englishmen found their way into
Spanish prisons. After all, Spain was only asserting her
just rights, if occasionally in a high-handed and arbitrary
manner. But it was easy for Pulteney and his " Patriots "
to make out a case against her. Popular passion was
fanned by the usual trickery, and the excitement reached
its height when a master mariner named Jenkins was
produced at the bar of the House of Commons. Jenkins
had a thrilling story to tell. Some years before, his vessel
had been boarded off Havana by Spanish revenue officers.
Innocent as a babe as he was, he had been shamefully
maltreated. He had been hanged at the yard-arm and
cut down half-dead. He had been slashed with cutlasses
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 155
and his left ear had been torn off by a Spanish miscreant,
who flung" it in his face, bidding him carry it home to
King George, " In that supreme moment," concluded
Jenkins with dramatic solemnity, " I commended my soul
to God and my cause to my country." The phrase flew
like wild-fire through the country The war fever seized all
classes alike. Walpole vainly struggled for peace. The
country was against him, and it was a case of yielding
to their will or resigning office. He chose the former,
and declared war with Spain.
London threw its cap into the air, and roared huzza !
with all its thousand throats. The city blazed with flags
and pennons, and bells rang defiance from every steeple.
Throngs of vengeance-breathing heroes paraded the streets,
and the Prince of Wales joined with the mob at Temple
Bar in drinking success to the campaign. While the
frenzy reigned, Handel sat gloomily in his empty theatre.
It was useless to struggle against the tide of popular
feeling. We who remember the opening days of the
Boer War can fully realise the situation. There was
nothing to be done but wait till the martial enthusiasm
of the country had expended itself in idle vapouring, and
society returned once more to its ordinary avocations.
In the autumn, Handel, whose losses of late had been
severe, clipped the wings of his ambition and moved to
the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where, on the 17th
of November 1739, he produced his setting of Dryden's
Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, which seems to have pleased his
patrons, since it was repeated several times during the
season in conjunction with either Alexander's Feast or
Acis and Galatea. Doubtless its success would have been
greater than it was, but during that winter the elements
fought against Handel, and owing to an exceptionally
156 HANDEL
severe frost he was compelled to close his theatre from
the 20th of December to the 21st of February. It is easy
to believe that in Handel's days theatres were very far
from being the cosy luxurious temples of amusement
that they now are, and the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre
was notoriously ill built and uncomfortable. Handel did
all that he could. His advertisements in the London
Daily Post are almost pathetic : " Particular care has been
taken to have the House surveyed and secured against
the cold, by having curtains placed before every door,
and constant fire will be kept in the House till the time of
performance," But it was useless to expect people to brave
the terrors of an Arctic temperature in order to listen to
good music. Even in favourable weather it was as much
as he could do to scrape together an audience, and when
the frost set in, the case was hopeless. For some reason
best known to the clerk of the weather, the winters in the
eighteenth century were decidedly more severe than they
are in our days, or at any rate people made far more fuss
about them. Owing to the arches of old London Bridge
getting choked with ice, it was by no means uncommon
for the Thames " above bridge " to be frozen so hard that
a " Frost Fair," or " Blanket Fair " as it was sometimes
called, could be held upon it. When this happened, as it
did in the winter of 1739-40, London gave itself up to
a kind of impromptu carnival. The Thames for the time
being was a debatable land, over which none of the
recognised authorities cared to exercise any jurisdiction.
Everybody did what he liked, and the fun was as fast as
it was furious. It was the right thing for the aristocracy
to come down and join in the people's sports at " Frost
Fair." Charles II set the fashion in the great frost of
1684, and in 17 16 George II, then Prince of Wales,
':fi' Pi
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 157
followed his example. In 1740 the frozen Thames was
a little town of tents and booths. Coaches plied between
Lambeth and London Bridge, and every form of festivity
and diversion was practised, the roasting of oxen being
of course a special feature. As usual, merriment and
misery went hand in hand, for the distress among the
lower classes must have been very severe. But London
was prosperous and charitable, and there are many records
of benevolent endeavour to relieve the pressing necessities
of those whom the frost had robbed of employment.
It would have needed a harder frost even than that of
1740 to check the flow of Handel's inspiration. While
London was disporting itself upon the icebound Thames
he was busily setting to music a strange libretto, concocted
by his friend Jennens out of Milton's U Allegro and //
Penseroso. Not content with boiling down the two
poems into a singularly inharmonious whole, he added
a coda of his own, entitled // Moderato, in which the
virtues of moderation are celebrated in numbers which
would sound awkward and ungainly in any company,
and by the side of Milton's sonorous lines seem doubly
pedestrian. The libretto, however, inspired Handel, who
wrote to it some of the most romantic and picturesque
music that he ever composed. Handel's L Allegro in
its turn inspired a nameless bard, who, after hearing it
performed, burst into verse of the following quality: —
" If e'er Arion's music calmed the floods,
And Orpheus ever drew the dancing woods,
Why do not British trees and forests throng
To hear the sweeter notes of Handel's song ? " '
Unfortunately for Handel not only did the British
trees and forests refuse to throng to his concerts, but the
^ Gentle?)ian s Magazine, May 1 740.
158 HANDEL
British lords and ladies as well. The aristocratic cabal
against him and his music was as bitter and as powerful
as ever, and at the Lincoln's Inn Fields theatre empty
benches were the rule rather than the exception. But his
pluck was inexhaustible. During the next season he
dropped sacred oratorio altogether, save for a single per-
formance of Saul, and offered his patrons only works of a
lighter cast. In his determination to succeed he even
fell back upon his old love, Italian opera. Despite the
fact that to those who remembered Faustina, Cuzzoni,
Senesino, and the great singers of the past, his company
must have seemed, to borrow Lady Bristol's graceful
expression, " a set of scrubbs," he produced a two-act
operetta, /m^;?^(? (22nd November 1740), with the composi-
tion of which he had amused himself two years before
in the intervals of writing Saul, and wrote a new opera,
Deidamia, to a libretto by his old enemy Rolli, which was
performed for the first time on the loth of January 1741.
All was in vain. Serious music was a drug in the market.
The Beggars Opera, The Dragon of Wantley, and their
thousand and one successors had revolutionised popular
taste in music, just as Hogarth had revolutionised it in
art. Handel owned himself defeated, and his defeat was
embittered by the apologetic attitude taken up by some
who called themselves his friends. On the 4th of April
1 741, the London Daily Post published a portentous
rigmarole singed J. B., in which a kind of attempt is made
to recommend Handel to the good graces of the aristo-
cratic ignoramuses who had been doing their best to ruin
him. " I wish," writes the amiable J. B., " that I could
persuade the gentlemen of figure and weight, who have
taken offence at any part of this great man's conduct (for
a great man he must be in the musical world, whatever
ECCE CONVERTIMUR AD GENTES ! 159
misfortunes may now, too late, say to the contrary), I
wish I could persuade them, I say, to take him back into
favour, and relieve him from the cruel persecution of
those little vermin, who, taking advantage of their dis-
pleasure, pull down even his bills as fast as he has put
them up, and use a thousand other little acts to injure and
distress him."
What Handel thought — and probably said — of a
begging letter of this kind can be better imagined than
described. Nothing was farther from his thoughts than
apologies or concession. He had given his best to
England, and England would have none of it. But he
had another string to his bow. In the hour of his defeat
he bethought him of the sister isle, whence warm invita-
tions from many good friends had often reached him.
The people of his choice would have none of him, and he
turned in despair to the Gentiles. He shook the dust of
London from his feet, and prepared for a visit to Dublin.
CHAPTER XI
HANDEL IN IRELAND, 1741-1742
WILLIAM CAVENDISH, fourth Duke of Devon-
shire and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was one
of those amiable and accomplished peers immortalised by
the muse of Sir William Gilbert, who spend their existence
in doing nothing in particular and doing it very well.
His sole claim to immortality rests upon the fact that
he invited Handel to Dublin. The rest of his blameless
and respectable career has faded into the shadows of the
past. His Lord Lieutenancy seems on the whole to have
been a success. He was rich, and spent his money
generously. He built a quay in Dublin and beautified
the city in other ways. It probably did not lie within his
power to do much towards ameliorating the lot of the
deeply injured and suffering people whom he ruled — the
Home Government kept too tight a hand upon him for
that. As to his private life, his obsequious biographer
records with proper enthusiasm that " he generally con-
versed with his friends and neighbours with that cheerful-
ness and condescension, that bespoke the truly great
man " ; but a pleasanter idea of what the man really was
is given in a story of Sir Robert Walpole's brother
Horatio, who, when asked what he thought of Devonshire
House, replied: "Why, I think it something like the
1 60
HANDEL IN IRELAND i6i
master ; plain and good without, but one of the best
inside houses in Britain." '^ Whatever were his faults or
virtues, the Duke appreciated Handel, and it was in
response to a definite invitation from Dublin Castle that
Handel started for John Bull's other island.
He left London during the first week of November
1 741, carrying with him his completed Messiah, which he
had begun on the 22nd of August and finished on the
14th of September. Burney, as a boy of fifteen, saw him
at Chester, and his story, though it has often been quoted
before, is too good to be omitted : —
"When Handel went through Chester on his way to
Ireland in the year 1741, I was at the public school in
that city and very well remember seeing him smoke a
pipe over a dish of coffee at the Exchange Coffee-House ;
for, being extremely anxious to see so extraordinary a
man, I watched him narrowly as long as he remained in
Chester ; which, on account of the wind being unfavourable
for his embarking at Parkgate, was several days. During
this time he applied to Mr. Baker the organist, my first
music master, to know whether there were any choirmen
in the Cathedral who could sing at sight, as he wished to
prove some books that had been hastily transcribed by
trying the choruses which he intended to perform in
Ireland. Mr. Baker mentioned some of the most likely
singers then in Chester, and among the rest a printer of
the name of Janson, who had a good bass voice and was
one of the best musicians in the choir. A time was fixed
for the private rehearsal at the Golden Falcon, where
Handel was quartered ; but alas ! on trial of the chorus in
The Messiah^ 'And with His stripes we are healed,' poor
Janson, after repeated attempts, failed so egregiously that
1 Grove, Lives of the Dukes of Devonshire, 1 764.
II
I 62 HANDEL
Handel let loose his great bear upon him, and, after
swearing in four or five different languages, cried out in
broken English : ' You scoundrel, did you not tell me
that you could sing at sight ? '
" ' Yes, sir,' says the printer, ' and so I can, but not at
first sight.' "
The contrary winds still continuing, Handel left
Chester and proceeded to Holyhead, whence he contrived
at last to cross to Dublin. He arrived at his destination
on the 1 8th of November,^ and established himself in
a house in Abbey Street. His company of singers and
players soon began to assemble. Maclaine, the organist,
he had brought with him. Signora Avolio arrived on the
24th. Mrs. Gibber was already in Dublin, where for some
time past she had been turning everybody's head as Polly
Peachum in The Beggar s Opera. His old friend Dubourg
the violinist was already established in Dublin. Handel
opened his season on the 23rd of December with a
performance of V Allegro, II Penseroso ed il Moderato,
together with the usual allowance of concertos, given in
the recently built hall in Fishamble Street.^ A report of
^"Last Wednesday the celebrated Dr, Handel arrived here in the
Packet Boat from Holyhead, a Gentleman universally known by his excellent
Compositions in all kinds of Musick, and particularly for his Te Deum,
Jubilate, Anthems, and other compositions in Church Musick (of which for
some years past have principally consisted the Entertainments in the Round
Church, which have so greatly contributed to support the Charity of Mercer's
Hospital), to perform his Oratorios, for which purpose he hath engaged the
above Mr. Maclaine (mentioned in the preceding paragraph) his Wife and
several others of the best performers in the Musical Way." Faulkner s
Journal, 2ist November 1741.
^ Fishamble Street is situated in a quarter which, though now fallen from
its high estate, was at that time highly fashionable. Neal's Music Hall was
first opened to the public on 2nd October 1741. Many years afterwards it was
converted into a theatre. In 1850 it was, according to Rockstro, " a neglected
old building with a wooden porch." It has now totally disappeared.
HANDEL IN IRELAND 163
the proceedings only appeared in Faulkner s Jo7irnal\
" Last Wednesday, Mr. Handel had his first oratorio at
Mr. Neal's Musick Hall in Fishamble Street, which was
crowded with a more numerous and polite audience than
ever was seen upon the like occasion. The performance
was superior to anything of the kind in the kingdom
before, and our nobility and gentry, to shew their taste
for all kinds of genius, expressed their great satisfaction
and have already given all imaginable encouragement to
this grand musick." Handel's satisfaction equalled that
of his audience, and a few days later he wrote in high
spirits to Jennens : —
Dublin, 2gih Dece?iiber i^^i
" S"^- — It was with the greatest Pleasure I saw the
Continuation of your kindness by the Lines you was
pleased to send me, in order to be prefix'd to your
Oratorio Messiah, which I set to Musick before I left
England. I am emboldened, Sir, by the generous
Concern you please to take in relation to my affairs, to
give you an account of the Success I have met here. The
Nobility did me the honour to make amongst themselves
a Subscription for 6 Nights, which did fill a Room of
600 Persons, so that I needed not to sell one single ticket
at the Door, and without Vanity the Performance was
received with a general Approbation. Sig"- Avolio, which
I brought with me from London, pleases extraordinary.
I have found another Tenor Voice which gives great
Satisfaction, the Basses and Counter Tenors are very
good, and the rest of the Chorus Singers (by my Direction)
do exceedingly well. As for the Instruments they are
really excellent, Mr. Dubourgh being at the Head of them,
and the Musick sounds delightfully in this charming
Room, which puts me in good Spirits (and my Health
1 64 HANDEL
being so good) that I exert myself on my Organ with
more than usual success.
" I open'd with the Allegro, Penseroso, and Moderato,
and I assure you that the words of the Moderato are vastly
admired. The Audience being composed (besides the
Flower of Ladies of Distinction and other People of the
greatest Quality) of so many Bishops, Deans, Heads of
the Colledge, the most eminent People in the Law, as the
Chancellor, Auditor General, etc. etc., all which are very
much taken with the Poetry, so that I am desired to
perform it again the next time. I cannot sufficiently
express the kind treatment I receive here, but the Polite-
ness of this generous Nation cannot be unknown to you,
so I let you judge of the satisfaction I enjoy, passing my
time with honour, profit and pleasure. They propose
already to have some more performances, when the 6
nights of the Subscription are over, and my Lord Duke
the Lord Lieutenant (who is always present with all his
Family on those Nights) will easily obtain a longer Per-
mission for me by His Majesty, so that I shall be obliged
to make my stay here longer than I thought. One request
I must make to you, which is that you would insinuate my
most devoted Respects to my Lord and my Lady Shaftes-
bury ; you know how much their kind protection is precious
to me. Sir William Knatchbull will find here my respect-
ful Compliments. You will increase my Obligations if by
occasion you will present my humble service to some
other Patrons and friends of mine. I expect with im-
patience the Favour of your News concerning your Health
and Welfare, of which I take a real share. As for the
news of your Operas I need not trouble you, for all the
Town is full of their ill success by a number of Letters from
your quarters to the People of Quality here, and I can't
HANDEL IN IRELAND 165
help saying but that it furnishes great Diversion and
laughter.
" The first Opera ^ I heard myself before I left London,
and it made me very merry all along my journey, and of
the second Opera, called Penelope^ a certain nobleman
writes very jocosely, ' II faut que je dise avec Harlequin,
notre Penelope n'est qu' une Sallope,' but I think I have
trespassed too much on your Patience.
" I beg you to be persuaded of the sincere veneration
and esteem with which I have the Honour to be. Sir,
your most obliged and most humble servant,
" George Frideric Handel "
All through the winter Handel continued to give
concerts at regular intervals, the original six subscription
concerts being followed by six others. His repertory,
besides L Allegro, included Alexanders Feast, the St.
Cecilia Ode, Esther, and Hymen, the latter a revised
version of the opera Imeneo, described as a " new serenata."
The Lord Lieutenant left for London on the i6th of
February, but Handel was now firmly established in the
good graces of Dublin society, and needed no court
patronage to ensure the acceptance of his works.
On the 27th of March 1742 the following notice
appeared in Faulkner's Journal: " For Relief of the
Prisoners in the several Gaols, and for the Support of
Mercer's Hospital in Stephen's Street, and of the
Charitable Infirmary on the Inn's Quay, on Monday the
1 2th of April will be performed at the Musick Hall in
^ Akssandro in Persia, a pasticcio, produced October 31. The opera
season at the King's Theatre was now managed by the Earl of Middlesex
with Galuppi as musical director.
^ By Galuppi.
1 66 HANDEL
Fishamble Street, Mr. Handel's new Grand Oratorio,
called The Messiah, in which the Gentlemen of the Choirs
of both Cathedrals will assist, with some Concertos on the
Organ, by Mr. Handell. Tickets to be had at the Musick
Hall, and at Mr. Neal's in Christ Church-yard at half a
Guinea each. N.B. — No person will be admitted to the
Rehearsal without a Rehearsal ticket, which will be given
gratis with the Ticket for the Performance when payed for."
The rehearsal duly took place on the 8th, and was
thus recorded by Faulkner s Journal: —
" Yesterday Mr. Handel's new Grand Sacred Oratorio,
called The Messiah, was rehearsed at the Musick Hall in
Fishamble Street to a most Grand, Polite, and Crowded
Audience ; and was performed so well, that it gave
universal Satisfaction to all present ; and was allowed by
the greatest Judges to be the finest Composition of
Musick that ever was heard, and the sacred Words as
properly adapted for the occasion.
" N.B. — At the desire of several persons of Distinction,
the above Performance is put off to Tuesday next. The
doors will be opened at Eleven, and the Performance
begin at Twelve. Many Ladies and Gentlemen who are
well-wishers to this Noble and Grand Charity, for which
this Oratorio was composed, request it as a favour, that the
Ladies who honour this performance with their Presence,
would be pleased to come without Hoops, as it will greatly
encrease the Charity, by making Room for more company."
A further advertisement published on the morning of
the performance entreated gentlemen to come without
their swords for the same reason.
On Tuesday, the 13th of April 1742, the first perform-
ance of The Messiah took place. On the ensuing Saturday
the following report appeared in Faulkner s J ourfial: —
HANDEL IN IRELAND 167
" On Tuesday last Mr. Handel's Sacred Grand Oratorio'
The Messiah, was performed in the New Musick Hall in
Fishamble Street ; the best Judges allowed it to be the
most finished piece of Musick. Words are wanting to
express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring
crowded Audience, The Sublime, the Grand, and the
Tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick and mov-
ing Words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished
Heart and Ear, It is but Justice to Mr, Handel that the
World should know he generously gave the Money arising
from this Grand Performance, to be equally shared by the
Society for relieving Prisoners, the Charitable Infirmary,
and Mercer's Hospital, for which they will ever gratefully
remember his Name ; and that the Gentlemen of the two
Choirs, Mr, Dubourg, Mrs. Avolio and Mrs. Cibber, who
all performed their Parts to Admiration, acted also on the
same disinterested Principle, satisfied with the deserved
Applause of the Publick, and the conscious Pleasure of
promoting such useful and extensive Charity, There
were above 700 People in the Room, and the Sum collected
for that Noble and Pious Charity amounted to about
^400, out of which £12^ goes to each of the three great
and pious Charities."
The only other contemporary account of the first
performance of TJie Messiah with which I am acquainted
was furnished to Burney by an Irish doctor named Ouin,
who was living in Dublin during Handel's visit. Of
Handel he wrote : —
" He was received in that kingdom by people of the
first distinction with all possible marks of esteem as a
man, and admiration as a performer and composer of the
highest order. TJie Messiah, I am thoroughly convinced,
was performed in Dublin for the first time, and with the
1 68 HANDEL
greatest applause.^ Mrs. Gibber and Signora AvoHo were
the principal performers. These, with the assistance of
the choristers of St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christ Church,
formed the vocal band ; and Dubourg, with several good
instrumental performers, composed a very respectable
orchestra. There were many noble families here, with
whom Mr. Handel lived in the utmost degree of friendship
and familiarity. Mrs. Vernon, a German lady who came
over with King George I, was particularly intimate with
him, and at her house I had the pleasure of seeing and
conversing with Mr. Handel, who, with his other ex-
cellences, was possessed of a great stock of humour ; no
man ever told a story with more. But it was requisite
for the hearer to have a competent knowledge of at least
four languages, English, French, Italian and German, for
in his narratives he made use of them all."
In spite of these records some uncertainty still exists
as to the singers who took part in the first performance
of The Messiah, and the mystery has by no means been
dispelled by the discovery in 1891 of the only known
copy of the original word-book of the oratorio, with the
names of the singers written in pencil by the side of
the songs that they sang. One interesting point, at
any rate, is made clear by this document — the identity
of the male soloists, whom Dr. Quin declares to have
been taken from the choirs of the two cathedrals.
They were James Baily (tenor), William Lambe and
Joseph Ward (altos), John Hill and John Mason (basses).
The first four belonged to the choirs of both cathedrals,
but Mason was a Vicar Choral of Christ Church alone.
^ In Burney's time there was some uncertainty, now completely dispelled,
as to whether The Messiah had not been performed in London during the
previous year.
HANDEL IN IRELAND 169
With regard to the female soloists, the word-book raises
difficulties rather than settles them. Dr. Quin and
Faulkner s Journal agree in saying that Signora Avolio
and Mrs. Gibber took part in the performance, but in the
word-book not only is there no mention of Signora Avolio,
but against several of the soprano numbers the name
" McLean " is pencilled, referring presumably to the wife
of Maclaine the organist, who is known to have accom-
panied her husband to Ireland. It is true that " McLean "
does not seem to have sung all the soprano solos. Her
name is only written against the recitatives " There were
shepherds," "Thy rebuke hath broken His heart," and
the air, " I know that my Redeemer liveth," so that it is
possible that Signora Avolio may have sung " Rejoice
greatly," "Come unto Him,"^ and "How beautiful are
the feet," against which no name is pencilled in the word-
book.
It is possible, of course, that the notes in this word-
book may refer to the second performance of TJie Messiah
on the 3rd of June, not to the first at all, and this theory is
supported by the fact that the printer seems accidentally
to have omitted the recitative, "Unto which of the
angels," and a slip of paper containing the words of the
omitted number and of the following chorus has been
pasted into its right place. No record of this performance
^ We already knew from the Dublin MS. that at the first performance of The
Messiah the air " He shall feed his flock " was, as is now customary, divided
between the contralto and the soprano, not, as in the autograph, given to the
soprano alone. This is confirmed by the word-book, in which Mrs. Gibber's
name is written against the opening words of the song. Mrs. Gibber also
sang " If God be for us," presumably in a transposed edition, and " He was
despised." With reference to her singing of the latter air there is a tradition
that Dr. Delany, who was present at the first performance, was so much
affected that he cried aloud : " Woman, for this thy sins be forgiven thee."
170 HANDEL
has survived, and it is legitimate therefore to suppose that
at the first performance Signora Avolio found her part
too heavy, and at the second arranged to share the soprano
solos with Mrs. Maclaine. But the evidence of the word-
book must not be taken too seriously. The pencil notes
were doubtless hastily jotted down, and may very likely
be inaccurate ; indeed the attribution of the tenor air, " Thou
shalt break them," to the alto Lambe seems almost im-
possible.
The incidents of Handel's stay in Dublin after the
production of TJie Messiah may be briefly summed up.
Saul was performed on the 25th of May, and The Messiah
repeated on the 3rd of June. This was the last of Handel's
own performances, though he probably took part in
Signora A volio's benefit concert on the 1 6th of July, and
in Mrs. Arne's concert on the 21st of July, at which a
great deal of his music was performed.
It was doubtless at one or other of these entertain-
ments that the incident occurred which was mentioned
by Burney as an instance of Handel's quickness of wit.
" One night," he writes, " when Handel was in Dublin,
Dubourg (a well-known violin player of that time) having
a solo part in a song and a close ^ to make ad libitum, he
wandered about in different keys a good while, and seemed
indeed a little bewildered and uncertain of his original
key ; but at length coming to the shake which was to
terminate this long close, Handel to the great delight of
the audience cried out loud enough to be heard in the
most remote parts of the theatre, " You are welcome
home, Mr. Dubourg."^
Handel left Dublin on the 13th of August and returned
^ We should now call it a cadenza.
^ Burney, Cotnmetnoration.
HANDEL IN IRELAND 171
to London, whence on the 9th of September he addressed
the following letter to his friend Jennens : —
" Dear S""' — It was indeed your humble Servant
which intended you a Visit on my way from Ireland to
London, for I certainly would have given you a better
account by word of Mouth, as by writing, how well your
Messiah was received in that country, yet as a Noble
Lord and not less than the Bishop of Elphin ^ (a Noble-
man very learned in Musick) has given his Observations
in writing on this Oratorio, I send you here annexed the
contents of it in his own words. I shall send the printed
Book of TJie Messiah to Mr. J. Steel for you.
" As for my success in general in that generous and
polite Nation, I reserve the account of it till I have the
honour to see you in London. The report that the
Direction of the Opera next winter is committed to my
care, is groundless. The gentlemen who have undertaken
to meddle with Harmony cannot agree, and are quite in a
confusion. Whether I shall do something in the Oratorio
way (as several of my friends desire) I cannot determine
as yet. Certain it is, that this time 12-month I shall
continue my Oratorios in Ireland, where they are going to
make a large subscription already for that purpose.
" If I had known that my Lord Guernsey ^ was so near
when I passed Coventry, you may easily imagine. Sir,
that I should not have neglected of paying my Respects
to him, since you know the particular Esteem I have for
^ Edward Synge, a prelate who enjoyed the probably unique advantage of
being the son of an archbishop, and the grandson, great-nephew, and brother
of bishops.
- Afterwards the Earl of Aylesford, a relative of Jennens, to whom he
bequeathed his books and pictures.
172 HANDEL
his Lordship. I think it a very long time to the month
of November next, when I can have some hopes of seeing
you here in Town. Pray let me hear meanwhile of your
Health and Welfare, of which I take a real share, being
with an uncommon Sincerity and Respect, S""", your most
obliged humble servant,
" George Frideric Handel "
In spite of his promise, Handel never revisited Ireland.
How it happened that what seems to have been a settled
arrangement was thrown over is not known. Possibly the
subscription was not after all taken up with the enthusiasm
that was expected, or he may have thought that the
future looked more promising in London. At any rate
his Irish visit remains a unique episode in his career, a
moment of brilliant sunshine in the midst of gathering
clouds and threatening storms, on which he must have
often looked back with vain regret in the troublous times
that were soon to come.
CHAPTER XII
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY, 174-2-1745
WHEN Handel returned to London he found his
position materially improved. His triumphs
abroad had won him consideration at home. His flight
to Ireland had been sung by no less celebrated a bard
than Pope. Pope knew little and cared less about music,
but he was under no illusions as to his ignorance, and
was content to accept the opinion of an expert. He asked
his friend Arbuthnot what was Handel's real value as a
musician. " Conceive the highest that you can of his
ability," replied the doctor, " and they are much beyond
anything that you can conceive." Pope laid the words to
heart, and a scathing passage in the Dunciad pilloried
Handel's enemies for all time. The genius of Italian
opera, " by singing Peers upheld on either hand," is
pleading her cause before the throne of Dulness : —
" "'But soon, ah soon, Rebellion will commence
If Music meanly borrows aid from sense.
Strong in new arms, lo ! Giant Handel stands
Like bold Briareus with a hundred hands ; ^
To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes,
And Jove's own Thunders follow Mars's Drums,
Arrest him, Empress, or you sleep no more '
She heard, and drove him to the Hibernian shore."
^ A note of Pope's own explains the pun in this passage, which has
sometimes been misinterpreted. "Mr. Handel," he says, " had introduced
1 74 HANDEL
Handel came back with a new oratorio, Samson, in
his pocket, which he had written, all save the concluding
air and chorus, immediately after The Messiah in
September and October 1741. In October 1742 he put
the finishing touch to it, but it was not produced until the
17th of February 1743. The libretto was by Newburgh
Hamilton, who, in his dedication to the Prince of Wales,
makes an interesting reference to the odious persecution
which Handel still had to endure from a certain set
among the aristocracy : "As we have so great a genius
amongst us, it is a pity that so many mean artifices have
been lately used to blast all his endeavours, and in him
ruin the art itself; but he has the satisfaction of being
encouraged by all true lovers and real judges of musick ;
in a more especial manner by that illustrious person,
whose high rank only serves to make his knowledge in
all arts and sciences as conspicuous as his power and
inclination to patronize them."
Samson was from the first one of the most popular of
Handel's oratorios. Even Horace Walpole, who made
fun of everything and everybody, had to own that it was
a success.
A few days after the first performance he wrote :—
" Handel has set up an Oratorio against the Opera, and
succeeds. He has hired all the goddesses from the
farces, and the singers of ' Roast Beef from between the
acts at both theatres, with a man with one note in his
voice, and a girl without ever an one, and so they sing
and make brave hallelujahs, and the good company
a great number of hands and more variety of instruments into the orchestra,
and employed even drums and cannons to make a fuller chorus ; which
proved so much too manly for the fine gentlemen of his age that he was
obliged to remove his music into Ireland."
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY 175
encore the recitative, if it happens to have any cadence
like what they call a tune."
Walpole's criticisms on Handel's singers were to a
certain extent justified. The girl without a note was
evidently Mrs. Gibber, whose voice Burney, one of her
great admirers, had to admit was " a mere thread," while
even so enthusiastic a Handelian as Mrs. Delany
confessed that Beard (the man with one note) had " no
voice at all." ^ Beard, however, was not only a first-rate
artist, but a man of real culture and refinement, besides
being totally without the vanity to which tenors are
usually supposed to have a prescriptive right. Miss
Hawkins says of him : " His lowly appreciation of
himself — only one of his many virtues ! — was shown when
in hearing Harrison, at one of the grand commemorations
of Handel, then in fine voice sing ' Oft on a plat,' he said
to my father, who happened to sit next to him, ' I never
sang it half so well.'"^ His marriage to Lady Henrietta
Herbert a few years before had been a nine days' wonder
in the fashionable world. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
wrote wickedly about it to a friend : " Lady Harriet
Herbert furnished the tea-tables here with fresh tattle for
the last fortnight. I was one of the first who was in-
formed of her adventure by Lady Gage, who was told that
morning by a priest, that she had desired him to marry
her the next day to Beard, who sings in the farces at
Drury Lane. He refused her that good office, and
immediately told Lady Gage, who (having been un-
fortunate in her friends) was frightened at this affair, and
asked my advice. I told her honestly, that since the
lady was capable of such amours, I did not doubt if this
was broke off she would bestow her person and fortune
^ Correspondence, ii. 271. ^ Anecdotes^ 1822.
176 HANDEL
on some hackney-coachman or chairman ; and that I
really saw no method of saving her from ruin, and her
family from dishonour but by poisoning her ; and offered
to be at the expense of the arsenic, and even to administer
it with my own hands, if she would invite her to drink
tea with her that evening. But on her not approving
that method, she sent to Lady. Montacute, Mrs. Durich,
and all the relations within reach of messengers. They
carried Lady Harriet to Twickenham, though I told them
it was a bad air for girls.^ She is since returned to
London, and some people believe her married ; others,
that she is too much intimidated by Mr. Waldegrave's
threat to dare to go through this ceremony; but the
secret is now public, and in what manner it will conclude
I know not. Her relations have certainly no reason to
be amazed at her constitution, but are violently surprised
at the mixture of devotion that forces her to have recourse
to the church in her necessities, which had not been the
road taken by the matrons of her family." Lady
Henrietta, in spite of the objurgations of her family,
lived happily with Beard until 1753. After her death he
married a daughter of Rich, the famous Harlequin and
theatrical manager.
Meanwhile, Samson pursued its successful career.
" The Oratorios thrive abundantly," wrote Horace
Walpole ; " for my part they give me an idea of Heaven,
where everybody is to sing, whether they have voices or
not." Miss Catherine Talbot, the adopted daughter of
Dr. Seeker, Archbishop of Canterbury, and one of the
famous "Blue Stocking" gang, took it much more
seriously. " I heard Samson in one of the College Halls,"
she wrote from Oxford to her friend Elizabeth Carter,
^ Because Pope, her quondam admirer and inveterate enemy, lived there.
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY 177
" and I believe to the full as finely as it ever was in town.
I really cannot help thinking this kind of entertainment
must necessarily have some effect in correcting the levity
of the age ; and let an audience be ever so thoughtless,
they can scarcely come away, I should think, without
being the better for an evening so spent." ^
Samson was followed in due course by The Messiah^
the first London performance of which took place on the
23rd of March 1743. It was then and for some years
afterwards described merely as " a sacred oratorio,"
doubtless because Handel's enemies, who lost no chance
of doing him a bad turn, would have raised hypocritical
protests against the blasphemy of allowing the name
of Messiah to appear on a playbill. No notice of The
Messiah appeared in any London paper, but an anecdote
relating to the first performance has survived in the
correspondence of Dr. Beattie. " When Handel's Messiah
was first performed," he says, "the audience was ex-
ceedingly struck and affected by the music in general,
but when the chorus struck up ' For the Lord God
Omnipotent ' in the Alleluia, they were so transported
that they all together, with the King (who happened to be
present), started up and remained standing till the
chorus ended. This anecdote I had from Lord Kinnoull."
The Messiah does not at first seem to have pleased the
taste of London musicians. " Partly," according to Lord
Shaftesbury, "from the scruples some persons^ had
entertained against carrying on such a performance in a
Play-House, and partly for not entering into the genius
^ Carter Correspondence, 1 808, vol. i. p. 29.
'^ Miss Catherine Talbot was one of these. Writing to her friend Mrs.
Carter of a performance of The Messiah, she said : "To be sure the play-
house is an unfit place for such a solemn performance."
12
178 HANDEL
of the composition, this capital composition was but
indifferently relished," It was given only thrice during
the season of 1743, while Samson was given eight times.
Even Jennens, who ought to have known better, chose
to find fault with it. " I shall shew you," he wrote to a
friend, " a collection I gave Handel, call'd Messiah, which
I value highly. He has made a fine entertainment of it,
though not near so good as he might and ought to have
done. I have with great difficulty made him correct
some of the grossest faults in the composition, but he
retained his overture obstinately, in which there are some
passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more un-
worthy of The Messiah" Whatever the cause may have
been, The Messiah was certainly slow in finding its way to
popularity. During its first London season it was only
given three times, as we have seen. In 1744 it was not
performed at all, and only twice in 1745. After that it
seems to have lain upon the shelf until 1749.
But England summoned Handel once more from his
oratorios to celebrate her triumphs in the field. The war
of" Jenkins's ear " had dragged on for some years without
producing any incident that touched popular imagination.
Englishmen hardly troubled to follow the devious mazes
of foreign politics, and many honest citizens would have
found it difficult to explain how it came about that after
going to war with Spain to avenge Jenkins we found
ourselves protecting Maria Theresa against the united
forces of France and Prussia. But the victory of
Dettingen in June 1743 gave the country something
tangible to boast about. The idea of an English king
leading his forces in person against our traditional
enemies, and inflicting a sound beating upon them, was
one that nobody could resist. George ll's unpopularity
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY 179
was forgotten, and he became for the moment the national
hero. With all his faults, he undoubtedly had personal
courage, and the picture of him alighting from his unruly
horse, and trusting to his own stout little legs, "which,"
as he said, "he knew would not run away with him,"
appealed irresistibly to English sentiment. So a national
thanksgiving for the victory of Dettingen was decreed,
and Handel, in his capacity of " Composer of Music to
the Chapel Royal," wrote a Te Deum and an Anthem for
it, which were duly performed at the Chapel Royal on
the 27th of November. Both works met with general
approbation. A newspaper of the period spoke of them
as " so truly masterly and sublime, as well as new in their
kind, that they prove this great genius not only inex-
haustible, but likewise still rising to a higher degree of
perfection." ^
Mrs. Delany, after attending a rehearsal of the Te
Deuni, wrote enthusiastically to her brother : " It is
excessively fine ; I was all raptures and so was your friend
D[octor] D[elany], as you may imagine. Everybody says
it is the finest of Handel's compositions. I am not well
enough acquainted with it to pronounce that of it, but it
is heavenly."
For the Lenten season of 1744 Handel had a pleasant
surprise for his subscribers in the shape of a secular
oratorio, Semele, a return to the manner of his early
triumph, Acis and Galatea. Handel certainly did all that
he could to conciliate lovers of every sort of music, but
the opposition against him and his music was still
stubborn and powerful. Mrs. Delany,^ writing after the
first performance of Seinele^ observes significantly : " There
1 Quoted by Faulkner's Journal, 26th November 1743.
^ Delany, Correspondence, vol. ii.
i8o HANDEL
was no disturbance at the play-house," as though a chorus
of cat-calls might reasonably be expected at the pro-
duction of a new oratorio.
She goes on : " The Goths were not so very absurd
as to declare in a public manner their disapprobation of
such a composer." But "the Goths," though they had
the grace to refrain from open manifestations of hostility,
were none the less determined to ruin Handel, whose
concerts they looked upon as threatening danger to their
favourite amusement of Italian opera. Ten days later
Mrs. Delany returns to the subject: —
" Semele has a strong party against it, viz., the fine
ladies, the pet its maitres and ignoramus's. All the opera
people are enraged at Handel, but Lady Cobham, Lady
Westmorland, and Lady Chesterfield never fail it."
Another who never failed to put in an appearance at
Handel's concerts was King George II, who remained
faithful to his favourite composer when his oratorios were
deserted by court and society.
A famous mot of Lord Chesterfield's relates to this
period of Handel's career. " What, my Lord," said some
one to him, as he was coming out of Covent Garden one
evening in the middle of the performance ; " are you dis-
missed ? Is there not an oratorio?" " Yes," replied he,
" they are now performing, but I thought it best to retire,
lest I should disturb the King in his privacies." The
Prince of Wales was also a good friend to Handel at this
time. He had, as we have seen, accepted the dedication
of Samson, and he had long since forgotten the old
squabbles about Bononcini and Senesino. It is true that
Mrs. Delany refers to a quarrel between Handel and the
Prince early in 1744, but from what she says Handel
appears to have treated the affair as a joke. Handel used
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY i8i
to hold many of the rehearsals for his oratorios at Carlton
House, where the Prince had been established since 1732,
and inside the walls of the music-room he behaved like a
veritable dictator. Burney, who knew Handel well in his
later years, says that if the Prince and Princess were not
up to time in coming to a rehearsal, Handel was apt to
become violent, whereupon the Prince, who must have
been good-nature itself, used to confess himself in the
wrong, and add that it was a shame to have kept these
good people, meaning the performers, so long from their
pupils and other concerns. Handel at rehearsal must
have been a decidedly awe-inspiring person. If a
maid of honour or any other female attendant talked
while the music was going on, she rendered herself liable
to a dose of Handel's most vigorous vernacular. Then
the Princess of Wales, with her accustomed mildness and
benignity, would smooth things over by saying : " Hush,
hush ! Handel is in a passion." At the performances in
the theatre he was more terrific still. He had a way of
shouting " Chorus ! " at the close of an air, which Burney
describes as extremely formidable. He used to wear an
enormous white wig — the sort of wig that Edward Fitz-
Gerald described as "a fugue in itself" — which his friends
regarded as a kind of weather-glass indicative of the rise
and fall of his stormy temperament. When things went
well it had a certain nod or vibration which manifested
his satisfaction, but without this outward and visible sign
the initiated gathered that the composer was ill pleased
with the performance, and looked out for squalls ac-
cordingly.
Semele was followed on the 2nd of March 1744 by
Joseph and his Brethren, a work now entirely neglected,
the libretto of which was written by the Reverend James
1 82 HANDEL
Miller, who dedicated it to the Duke of Montagu, a proof,
let us hope, that that effervescent nobleman had given up
his taste for practical joking as middle age approached,
and had begun to take life more seriously.
Joseph seems to have been born under an unlucky star.
At the final rehearsals, according to Mrs. Delany, " Handel
was mightily out of humour about it, for Sullivan, who is
to sing Joseph, is a block with a very fine voice, and Beard
has 710 voice at all. The part which Francesina is to have
(Joseph's wife) will not admit of much variety, but I hope
it will be well received." Joseph did not, unfortunately,
fulfil expectations, and the season closed in disappoint-
ment. Handel devoted the following summer to the
composition of Belshazzar, the libretto of which was
furnished to him by his friend Jennens. Jennen's muse
was a lady of invincible prolixity, and Handel's utmost
efforts could do little to stem the torrent of her eloquence.
Several of Handel's letters to Jennens of this period are
extant, dealing principally with the new oratorio. " Your
most excellent oratorio has given me great delight in
setting it to musick," he writes at one time, "and still
engages me warmly. It is indeed a noble piece, very
grand and uncommon. It has furnished me with expres-
sions, and has given me opportunity to some very par-
ticular ideas, besides so many great choruses."
A little later the burden of Jennens's verbosity weighs
upon him more heavily : " I think it a very fine and
sublime oratorio, only it is really too long; if I should
extend the music, it would last four hours and more. I
retrenched already a great deal of musick, that I might
preserve the poetry as much as I could, yet still it may be
shortened." Jennens was obstinate as well as wordy,
and, like Mr Puff in The Critic, he determined to print
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY 183
every word of it. When, therefore, the word-book of the
oratorio was published, Jennens's rich fancies appeared in
all their pristine and unshorn luxuriance, but a sinister
black line in the margin indicated the passages, amount-
ing in all to some two hundred lines, which the composer
had not found it convenient to use. No wonder that
Jennens was Handel's severest critic, and bewailed the
base uses to which his "fine entertainment" had been
condemned.
The collapse of the opera, which since Handel had
retired from management in 1741 had been carried on by
Lord Middlesex, seemed to leave the field open, and
Handel now gave up Covent Garden and returned to his
old quarters in the Haymarket, where he started a new
series of subscription concerts in November 1744, on a
more ambitious scale than ever. But if he imagined that
it was going to be all plain sailing for him, now that the
rivalry of the opera had ceased, he was grievously mis-
taken. The failure of their favourite entertainment only
made his enemies more rabid than ever. It is difficult to
comprehend the virulence of the feeling against Handel
that raged at this time in aristocratic circles. The old
quarrel about Senesino can have had very little to do
with it, since many of Handel's persecutors were hardly
more than children in those early days. Nor can the
quarrel have turned on the nature and quality of Handel's
own music ; for very few of the opposition could tell a
crotchet from a quaver. The matter was purely personal.
Handel was an incarnation of the spirit of revolt against
the old system of patronage that had ruled the world of
music for so long. Here was a man who, while every
other musician in the land remained at an angle of forty-
five degrees in the presence of his princely patrons,
1 84 HANDEL
resolutely stood upright, went his own way, and snapped
his fingers in their ducal faces. What was to be done
with him? They had made him a bankrupt once — and
he had paid his debts to the uttermost farthing. They
had hounded him almost into his grave — and here he was
as strong and hearty as ever. But this time they vowed
one and all that there should be an end of him. It was
time that he should be taught his place. Was a mere
musician, a man who ought by rights to be a liveried
flunkey in the servants' hall — as Haydn a few years later
actually was — to defy the bluest blood in England?
Perish the thought ! So the chosen leaders of the English
aristocracy laid their heads together, and devised a regular
campaign against the insufferable upstart. Women, ever
to the front when good works are afoot, led the crusade.
A certain Lady Brown,^ not otherwise known to history,
is damned to everlasting fame by Burney as having
" distinguished herself as a persevering enemy of Handel."
She and her friends carefully chose the evenings of his
oratorios for their balls and card-parties, violating what
^ Lady Brown belonged to the Cecil family. Her husband, Sir Robert,
had at one time been Resident at Venice, where his wife acquired a taste for
Italian music. On their return to London she posed as a patroness of foreign
singers, and was one of the first London hostesses to give regular musical
parties. Horace Walpole, writing to Mann in 1743, mentions the Sunday
evening concerts that she was in the habit of giving, according to Burney,
"at the risk of her windows," for the London mob in those days was nothing
if not Sabbatarian. Her match-making propensities, and later in life her
avarice, seem to have been a continual source of amusement to thejeutzesse
doree of London.
Lady Brown is also mentioned in Martinelli's correspondence as a leading
London hostess. " Every evening," he writes, "we go to Mylady Brown's
conversazioni, where beauteous ladies and charming cavaliers assemble in
large numbers, and music and play and men of letters combine with a good
supper to make up a delightful evening's entertainment." (Martinelli, Lettere
f ami liar i.)
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY 185
was then considered the sanctity of Lent in their en-
deavour to crush their enemy.^ If the fascinations of
these brilliant assemblies failed they eked them out with
mumming-shows, such as that supplied by a miserable
wretch named Russel, whom, after he had served their
wanton purpose, they allowed to be thrown into prison for
the debts contracted in their service. There he lay rotting
until his munificent patronesses subscribed the sum of five
pounds, by means of which he was admitted to Bedlam,
where soon afterwards he died, a raving maniac.^
Victory crowned their generous efforts. Handel's
season dragged wearily and hopelessly through the
winter. His concerts were sometimes postponed, some-
times omitted altogether. In vain did he produce
Hercules on the 5th of January, and Belshazzar on the
27th of March 1745 — the one incomparably the greatest
of his secular oratorios, the other a masterpiece entitled
to high rank among his sacred works. Nothing would
avail. His own friends gave but lukewarm support, and
the strain of the ceaseless struggle seriously affected his
health. We have a mournful glimpse of him in a letter
of his old friend Lady Shaftesbury written to her cousin
James Harris^ in March 1745: "My constancy to poor
^ Hawkins, History.
- Smollett refers to this unfortunate wretch in his satire Advice : —
"Again shall Handel raise his laurelled brow,
Again shall harmony with rapture glow !
The spells dissolve, the combination breaks,
And rival Punch no more in terror squeaks.
Lo, Russel falls a sacrifice to whim
And starts amazed in Newgate from his dream,
With trembling hands implores their promised aid
And sees their favour like a vision fade."
^ James Harris was the eldest of three brothers, all of them devoted to
music, and intimate friends of Handel. James, the eldest, was the father of
1 86 HANDEL
Handel got the better of my indolence, and I went last
Friday to Alexander s Feast, but it was such a melancholy
pleasure as drew tears of sorrow to see the great though
unhappy Handel, dejected wan and dark, sitting by, not
playing on the harpsichord, and to think how his light
had been spent by being overplied in music's cause. I
was sorry, too, to find the audience so insipid and taste-
less (I may add unkind) not to give the poor man the
comfort of applause; but affectation and conceit cannot
discern or attend to merit." ^ Miss Catherine Talbot
the first Lord Malmesbury. He was nicknamed "Hermes" Harris after
a philosophical work of that title which made some stir at the time. Dr.
Johnson disliked him and called him "a prig, and a bad prig," but no one
else had a word to say against him. He lived at Salisbury, where, according
to a recent article by the present Lord yizSxiit'ahMry {The Ancestor, vol. i.),
Handel was a constant and welcome visitor to the family mansion of the
Harrises, and often took part in amateur concerts. Harris was a practical
musician, and did much for the cause of music in Salisbury and its neighbour-
hood. His son wrote of him: "The superior taste and skill which he
possessed in music, and his extreme fondness for hearing it, led him to attend
to its cultivation in his native place with uncommon pains and success ;
insomuch that, under his auspices, not only the Annual Musical Festival in
Salisbury flourished beyond most institutions of the kind, but even the
ordinary subscription concerts were carried on by his assistance and direc-
tions, with a spirit and effect seldom equalled out of the Metropolis." An
extremely interesting set of the rare word-books of these concerts has recently
been placed at my disposal by my friend Mr. Randall Davies. It is worth
noting that in a letter recently published {Hist. MSS. Comm., Report xv.
Appx. pt. 2.) Handel's librettist Morell mentions a performance oi Jephtha
given at Salisbury under James Harris's direction as having been the best he
ever heard, and the word-books testify that the concerts were carried out
in the most complete and elaborate manner. Thomas Harris, the second
brother, was a master in Chancery. He witnessed Handel's will and three
of the codicils appended to it. Under a fourth and last codicil he received a
bequest of ;^300. William, the third brother, was the parson of the family.
He was chaplain to the Bishop of Durham, and rector of Egglescliffe in that
see.
^ Malmesbury Papers, vol. i. p. 2.
THE SECOND BANKRUPTCY 187
joined in deploring the decadence of fashionable taste.
No one, she complained, seemed to care for anything but
crowded assemblies. " Friendly visits and private parties
are things gone out of the world ; and Handel, once so
crowded, plays to empty walls in that opera-house, where
there used to be a constant audience as long as there were
any dancers to be seen." She did not profess to be a
musician, but her criticism of BelsJiazzar is admirable.
" Unfashionable that I am, I was, I own, highly delighted
the other night at his last oratorio. 'Tis called Belshazzar,
the story the taking of Babylon by Cyrus ; and the music,
in spite of all that very bad performers could do to spoil
it, equal to anything I ever heard. There is a chorus of
Babylonians deriding Cyrus from their walls, that has
the best expression of scornful laughter imaginable.
Another of the Jews, where the name Jehovah is
introduced first with a moment's silence and then with a
full swell of music, so solemn that I think it is the most
striking lesson against common genteel swearing I ever
met with." ^ Soon after this the end came. The season
closed abruptly on the 23rd of April. Only sixteen of
the promised twenty-four concerts had been given, but
the performances did not cover their expenses, and
Handel's own funds, the proceeds of his successful visit
to Ireland, were exhausted. His health forbade further
efforts, and once more he was declared a bankrupt.
Already in 1743, according to Hawkins, he had had a
slight turn of that disorder which had driven him to Aix-
la-Chapelle,2 and the fact that he was unable to take his
usual share in the performance of his oratorios proves
^ Correspondence of Airs. E. Carter, vol. i. p. 59,
^ Hawkins, History, v. 358. Horace Walpole wrote in May 1743 :
" Handel has had a palsy, and can't compose."
1 88 HANDEL
plainly enough how ill he was. A few months' rest,
however, and probably a visit to one of his favourite
watering-places, Tunbridge Wells or Cheltenham, put
him on his legs again. His indomitable spirit rose
superior to every trial, and instead of giving up the
struggle in despair he hired the Covent Garden theatre
for the ensuing Lent.
In a letter from William Harris to his sister-in-law,
dated 29th August 1745, we find the composer back in
London : " I met Mr. Handel a few days since in the
street, and stopped and put him in mind who I was, upon
which it would have diverted you to have seen his antic
motions. He seemed highly pleased and was full of
inquiry after you and the Councillor [Thomas Harris].
I told him I was very confident that you expected a visit
from him this summer. He talked much of his precarious
state of health, yet he looks well enough. I believe you
will have him with you ere long." ^ The health-giving
breezes of Salisbury Downs and the motherly care of
friendly Mrs. Harris doubtless combined to expedite
Handel's return to health, and in October Lord Shaftes-
bury could report progress : " Poor Handel looks some-
thing better. I hope he will entirely recover in due time,
though he has been a good deal disordered in the head." ^
Recover he did, and to such purpose that his apparent
defeat at the hands of his malignant enemies was con-
verted into a victory, the most brilliant and lasting of his
career.
^ Malmesbury Papers, vol. i. p. 3. ^ Ibid. vol. i. p. 9.
CHAPTER XIII
THE TURN OF THE TIDE, 1745-1751
WHEN one fine August morning in the year 1745
the news reached London that Prince Charles
Edward Stuart had landed in Scotland, everybody
laughed incredulously. People had almost forgotten
about the Jacobites. They seemed to belong to the dim
past of childhood, and to be the stock-in-trade of the
elderly bores who babbled about the 'fifteen and the times
of good Queen Anne. But the days passed by, and the
news was confirmed. The Pretender unfurled his standard
at Glenfinnan, and the clans gathered round him.
London's incredulity changed to annoyance. The Scot-
tish rising was a ridiculous piece of impertinence — why did
not some one go out and put a stop to it? Thereupon Sir
John Cope did go, but it needed more than his blundering
and bewildered efforts to check the rebellion. Prince
Charlie easily eluded him among the fastnesses of the
Grampians, and was at the gates of Perth while Cope was
marching upon Inverness. However, London still pre-
served its superior attitude, and when the ministers pro-
posed any preventive plans to the King, he merely replied,
" Pho ! don't talk to me of that stuff." Then came
the Prince's triumphal entry into Edinburgh, and the
crushing defeat of Cope at Prestonpans. London began
I90 HANDEL
to get nervous. Horace Walpole admitted in a letter to
Horace Mann that the defeat had frightened everybody,
though the King still pooh-poohed the whole business.
When the rebels crossed the border, fear changed to con-
sternation. Horace Walpole called it an ugly business,
and prided himself upon not despairing. Then followed
the siege and capture of Carlisle, and the march south to
Derby. With the Highlanders almost at their doors the
citizens of London made up their minds for the worst.
Shops were shut, and all business was suspended.
There was a run on the Bank, and the Guards were
marched out to Finchley. " It is beyond the power of
words," wrote William Harris to his sister-in-law, " to de-
scribe to you the hurry both court and city were in."^
All over the country the terror was the same. At King's
Lynn they talked seriously of cutting down their bridges
to keep out the rebels, and beaching ships to prevent the
French from entering the harbour.^ But the alarm was
needless. In a few days came the news of the rebels'
retreat. London breathed a vast sigh of relief, and
resumed the ordinary avocations of life. But while
it lasted the alarm had been a real one, and the
sense of having had a narrow escape was so strong in
men's minds that it occurred to Handel to write an
Occasional Oratoi-io celebrating the general delight at the
country's escape from what seemed at the time a grave
peril. The Occasional Oratorio was somewhat hastily put
together, and Handel made free use in it of several of his
earlier works, notably of Israel in Egypt, but it is hardly
fair to call it a pasticcio, as many of Handel's biographers
have done, since it contains no fewer than thirty-one
^ Malmesbury Papers, vol. i. p. 21.
* Edmund Pyle, Memoirs of a Royal Chaplain, p. 113.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 191
original numbers. It was performed for the first time
on the 14th of February 1746, and was twice repeated,
the performances being specially designed, according to
Handel's advertisement, " to make good to the subscribers
that favoured him last season the number of performances
he was not then able to complete."
It has been suggested by some of Handel's biographers,
notably by Schoelcher and Rockstro, that the word
" Occasional " refers to this tardy fulfilment of Handel's
obligations, and that the work has nothing to do with the
rebellion. It is true that it was produced before the
battle of Culloden finally shattered Charles Edward's
hopes, but the following letter, written by William Harris
to his sister-in-law on the 8th of February 1746, shows
that the work was none the less regarded by Handel's
contemporaries as expressive of the general rejoicing :
" Yesterday morning I was at Handel's house to hear
the rehearsal of his new Occasional Oratorio. It is ex-
tremely worthy of him, which you will allow to be saying
all one can in praise of it. He has but three voices for his
songs — Francesina, Reinholt, and Beard ; his band of
music is not very extraordinary. Du Feche ^ is his first
fiddle, and for the rest I really could not find out who
they were, and I doubt his failure will be in this article.
The words of his oratorio are scriptural, but taken from
various parts, and are expressive of the rebels' flight and
our pursuit of them. Had not the Duke carried his point
triumphantly, this oratorio could not have been brought
on." 2
But the rebellion of 1745 was destined to give birth
to a more famous work than the Occasional Oratorio.
The victory of Culloden on the i6th of April 1746 finally
' William Defesch. * Malinesbtiry Papers, vol. i. p. 33.
192 HANDEL
crushed the Jacobite cause, and raised the Duke of
Cumberland to the rank of a national saviour. The
horrors of the red reign of terror that followed Culloden
were ignored or condoned, and when " Billy the Butcher "
— as even his own soldiers and partisans called him —
returned to London in July he was the hero of the
hour.
A medal was struck in his honour, and the thanks of
Parliament, together with a grant of twenty-five thousand
pounds a year, were poured at his feet. The principal
cities of England vied in offering him civic honours, and
the poet Collins sang his sweetest numbers in the young
warrior's praise. Handel lent his voice to the general
acclamation, and celebrated the Duke's triumph in the
martial strains of Judas Maccabcsiis, which was written in
July and August 1746 to a libretto by Thomas Morell,
and produced at Covent Garden on the ist of April 1747,
after repeated postponements on account of the trial
of Lord Lovat, which occupied public attention to the
exclusion of everything else. Morell was an amiable
man and a good scholar. He furnished Handel with the
librettos of several of his most famous oratorios. In a
letter written after Handel's death, Morell has given some
interesting details of the manner in which he and the
composer worked together : " And now as to Oratorios : —
There was a time (says Mr. Addison), when it was laid
down as a maxim, that nothing was capable of being well
set to Musick, that was not nonsense. And this I think,
though it might be wrote before Oratorios were in fashion,
supplies an Oratorio-writer (if he may be called a writer)
with some sort of apology ; especially if it be considered,
what alterations he must submit to, if the composer be
of an haughty disposition, and has but an imperfect
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 193
acquaintance with the English language.^ As to myself,
great lover as I am of music, I should never have
thought of such an undertaking (in which, for the reasons
above, little or no credit is to be gained) had not Mr.
Handel applied to me when at Kew in 1746, and added
to his request the honour of a recommendation from
Prince Frederick. Upon this I thought I could do as
well as some who had gone before me, and within two or
three days carried him the first act of Judas MaccabcEus,
which he approved of ' Well,' says he, ' and how are
you to go on ? ' * Why, we are to suppose an engage-
ment, and that the Israelites have conquered, and so
begin with a chorus as " Fallen is the foe," or something
like it.' * No, I will have this,' and began working it,
as it is, upon the harpischord. ' Well, go on.' ' I will
bring you more to-morrow.' ' No, something now.'
'So fall thy foes, O Lord ' 'That will do,' and
immediately carried on the composition as we have it
in that most admirable chorus. That incomparable air,
' Wise men, flattering, may deceive us ' (which was the
last he composed,^ as ' Sion now his head shall raise ' was
his last chorus) was designed for Belshazzar, but that not
being performed, he happily flung it into Judas Maccabczus.
N.B. — The plan of Judas Maccabmis was designed as a
compliment to the Duke of Cumberland, upon his return-
ing victorious from Scotland. I had introduced several
incidents more apropos, but it was thought they would
make it too long, and they were therefore omitted. The
Duke, however, made me a handsome present by the
hands of Mr. Poyntz. The success of the oratorio was
^ Obviously a reference to Handel.
^ This is a mistake. " Wise men, flattering " is an adaptation of the song
" Se vuoi pace," in Agrippina.
13
194 HANDEL
very great, and I have often wished that at first I had
asked in jest for the benefit of the 30th night instead of
a 3d. I am sure he would have given it to me ; on which
night there was above ;^400 in the house. He left me a
legacy, however, of ^200."^ Judas MaccahcEus marks a
very important point in the history of Handel's career.
Its production was the turn of the tide of his fortunes.
During the season of 1747 Handel abandoned the system
of subscription performances, and threw his theatre open
to all comers. This change of policy brought its own
reward. Finding that his aristocratic patrons had failed
him, Handel turned to the great middle class, who became
his ardent supporters and brought him new fame and
fortune.
Fielding's Amelia gives a typical description of a
visit to the oratorio about this time. Amelia and her
friend start early so as to be in time to get a place in
the front row of the gallery. Though they arrived " full
two hours before they saw the back of Mr. Handel," they
had plenty to amuse them. A gentleman arrived on the
scene, who was at once smitten with Amelia's charms.
" He procured her a book and wax candle, and held the
candle for her himself during the whole entertainment."
Evidently there was not much luxury about oratorio-going
in those days, but it was the Amelias of the day and
their friends and relations who were the chief instruments
of Handel's ultimate triumph.'^ Soon it became as much
the fashion to admire Handel as a few years before
it had been to decry him. Lady Luxborough's steward,
who paid a visit to London in the spring of 1748, was
nothing if not up to date. " He went," writes his mistress,
1 Historical MSS. Commission, Report xv. Appendix, pt. 2.
2 Fielding, Amelia, Bk. iv. ch. vii.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 195
' to the oratorio of Judas Maccahceus, where he was highly
entertained, and he speaks with such ecstasy of the music,
as I confess I cannot conceive any one can feel who under-
stands no more of music than myself, which I take to be
his case. But I suppose he sets his judgment true to that
of the multitude, for if his ear is not nice enough to
distinguish the harmony, it serves to hear what the
multitude say of it."^
Handel was not the only composer who tuned his
lyre to celebrate the victor of Culloden. Gluck, who was
then in London, wrote an opera called La Caduta dei
Giganti in praise of the Duke of Cumberland. It was
produced in 1747, but does not appear to have been much
appreciated, indeed its failure is said to have had some-
thing to do with turning Gluck's thoughts in the direction
of operatic reform. Handel thought very poorly of Gluck
of whom he is said to have observed that he knew no
more of counterpoint than his cook ; which very likely was
hardly an exaggeration, since Waltz, the cook in question,
had developed into an excellent bass singer after leaving
Handel's service, whereas Gluck's operas were at that
time very slight and trivial specimens of the fashionable
manner of the day. To Gluck himself, however, Handel
seems to have been more polite. Gluck called on him
with the score of La Caduta dei Giganti under his arm,
and took counsel with him as to the reasons of its failure.
" You have taken far too much trouble over your opera,"
said Handel, whose operatic experiences seem not un-
naturally to have left him rather cynical on the subject
of aristocratic taste. " Here in England that is mere
waste of time. What the English like is something that
they can beat time to, something that hits them straight
^ Letters written by Lady Luxboroiigh to Williani Shenstone, 1775, p. 20.
196 HANDEL
on the drum of the ear." ^ Gluck had no opportunity of
profiting by Handel's advice, as he left London soon
afterwards never to return, but his gratitude to and
admiration for the great man never failed. Forty years
later, Michael Kelly, who sang in his Iphigenia in Tauris
in Vienna, had a proof of this which he relates in his
reminiscences : " One morning, after I had been singing
with him, he said, ' Follow me upstairs, Sir, and I will
introduce you to one whom all my life I have made my
study and endeavoured to imitate.' I followed him into
his bedroom, and opposite to the head of the bed saw a
full-length picture of Handel in a rich frame. ' There,
Sir,' said he, ' is the portrait of the inspired master of our
art. When I open my eyes in the morning I look upon
him with reverential awe and acknowledge him as such,
and the highest praise is due to your country for having
distinguished and cherished his gigantic genius,' " -
Apropos of Judas, Burney gives an amusing account
of an encounter with Handel at the house of Signora Frasi,
the famous singer : " At Frasi's, I remember, in the year
1748 he brought in his pocket the duet oi Judas MaccabcBus,
' From these dread scenes,' in which she had not sung
when that oratorio was first performed in 1747. At the
time he sat down at the harpsichord to give her and me
the time of it, while he sung her part I hummed at sight
the second over his shoulder, in which he encouraged me
by desiring that I would sing out. But unfortunately
something went wrong, and Handel with his usual
impetuosity grew violent — a circumstance very terrific to
a young musician. At length, however, recovering from
my fright, I ventured to say that I fancied there was a
^ Schmid, C. W. vott Ghick, p. 29.
- Kelly, Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 255.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 197
mistake in the writing, which upon examining Handel
discovered to be the case ; and then instantly, with the
greatest good humour and humility said : * I beg your
pardon — I am a very odd dog. Master Schmidt is to
blame.' "
Frasi was rather a favourite of Handel's. She had a
beautiful voice, but was no musician, and incorrigibly lazy.
One day she informed him that she was going to learn
thorough-bass, in order to be able to accompany herself.
" Oh," said Handel, " what may we not expect ! " ^
Judas MaccabcBics gave some colour to the accusations
which had been levelled against Handel in the days of
Saul of loving noise for its own sake, at least if we may
believe Miss Elizabeth Carter, who wrote to a friend soon
after the production of the work : " In his last oratorio
he has literally introduced guns, and they have a good
effect." ^ Sheridan, it will be remembered, had a hit at
the supposed noisiness of Handel's music in his burletta
Jupiter, an early sketch for The Critic, in which the author
whose play is being rehearsed directs that a pistol shall
be fired behind the scenes, observing : " This hint I took
from Handel."
Not a little of the success of Judas Maccabcsus was
due to the Jews of London, who hastened to patronise
a work in which the glory of their national hero was
extolled with so much spirit and eloquence. Their
numbers were not very imposing, for there can hardly
have been more than 7000 Jews in all England at that
time,^ but they were for the most part men of substance,
and Handel, realising that he had tapped a new fount of
profit, bade his trusty Morell draw the subject of his next
' Burney, Commemoration. ^ Carter Correspondence, i. 134.
^ Hertz, British Imperialism in the Eighteenth Century, p. 63.
198 HANDEL
oratorio from the same Hebrew source. Morell obeyed
with alacrity : " The next year," his record continues, " he
desired another, and I gave him Alexander Balus, which
follows the history of the foregoing in the Maccabees.
In the first part there is a very pleasing air, accompanied
with the harp, * Hark, hark, he strikes the golden lyre ! '
in the second two charming duets, ' O what pleasure past
expressing/ and ' Hail, wedded love, mysterious law.'
The third begins with an incomparable air in the affetuoso
style, intermixed with the chorus recitative that follows it.
And as to the last air I cannot help telling you that when
Mr. Handel first read it he cried out, ' Damn your
iambics ! ' ' Don't put yourself in a passion, they are
easily trochees.' ' Trochees, what are trochees ? ' ' Why,
the very reverse of iambics, by leaving out a syllable in
every line, as instead of " Convey me to some peaceful
shore," " Lead me to some peaceful shore." ' ' That is what
I want.' ' I will step into the parlour and alter them
immediately.' I went down and returned with them
altered in about three minutes, when he would have
them as they were, and had set them most delightfully,
accompanied with only a quaver and a rest of three
quavers."
Alexander Balus was written in June and July 1747,
and produced on the 9th of March 1748. In spite of its
subject it was never one of the more popular of Handel's
oratorios, and was eclipsed in general favour by its
immediate successor, Jos/ma, which was written in July
and August 1747, and produced on the 23rd of
March 1748.
In Joshua occurs the famous " See the conquering hero
comes," afterwards transferred to Judas Maccabceus, with
regard to which Miss Hawkins tells a characteristic story.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 199
Soon after it was completed, Handel played it to Sir John
Hawkins, and asked him how he liked it. " Not so well
as some things I have heard of yours," was the reply.
" Nor I neither," rejoined Handel ; " but, young man, you
will live to see it a greater favourite with the people
than my other fine things."^
There is another story about Joshua told by Shield :
" Travelling from London to Taplow with the father of
modern harmony (Haydn), and having, the preceding
evening, observed his countenance expressing rapturous
astonishment during the Concert of Antient Music, I
embraced the favourable opportunity of inquiring how he
estimated the chorus in /oshua, ' The nations tremble.'
The reply was, he had long been acquainted with music,
but never knew half its powers before he heard it, and he
was perfectly certain that only one inspired author ever
did or ever would pen so sublime a composition." ^
Joshua was followed in due course by Susanna, which
was produced on the loth of February 1749, and by
Solomon, produced on the 17th of March 1749. The
author of Susanna is not known. The libretto of Solomon
has been attributed to Morell, but there is no authority
for the ascription, and as Morell says nothing about it in
his letter on Handel and his oratorios which has already
been quoted, the probability is that he had nothing to do
with it. By this time the tide had definitely turned in
favour of Handel. Lady Shaftesbury, who was present
at the first performance of Susanna, wrote : " I think I
never saw a fuller house. Rich told me that he believed
he would receive near ^^"400." She did not, however,
care much about Susanna herself: " I believe it will not
insinuate itself so much into my approbation as most of
^ Anecdotes, 1822. 2 Shield, Introduction to Harmony.
200 HANDEL
Handel's performances do, as it is in the light operatic
style." ^ But others seem to have regarded it more
favourably. It was performed four times during the
season, Solomon thrice, Samson and The Messiah each four
times, and Hercules twice. During the oratorio season of
1749 occurred the public rejoicings for the Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, which had been signed in October 1748.
The Peace was a patched-up sort of business, and whoever
profited by it, England certainly did not. But every one
was tired of the war, and the news of peace was received
with real enthusiasm in this country at any rate. Con-
sequently the celebrations were carried out on a grand
scale. The great feature of the festivity was to be a
display of fireworks, for which a " machine," as it was
called, representing a Doric temple, 114 feet in height
and 410 feet long, was designed by the Chevalier
Servandoni,2 and erected in the Green Park. Handel
was commissioned to write music for the festivity, which
was to precede and accompany the display of fireworks.
The building in the Green Park, though begun in the
previous November, was only finished on the day before
the celebration. Meanwhile the general excitement was
working itself up to fever-heat. Even so long beforehand
as December 1748, Lady Jane Coke wrote that she was
tired of hearing about the fireworks, which it was feared
would damage the houses in St. James's Street and break
the windows in the Queen's Library.^ Fireworks were
^ Malmesbury Letters, vol. i. p. 741.
2 An architect and artist famous in his day, and much in demand at the
various courts of Europe. He had a genius for stage management, and at the
production of an opera at Stuttgart designed a triumphal procession in which
more than four hundred horses are said to have taken part. His best known
architectural work is the fagade of St. Sulpice at Paris.
^ Letters of Lady Jane Coke to Mrs. Eyre, p. 14.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 201
a rarity in those days, and everybody who could possibly
manage it was coming up to London to see the show.
" For a week before," wrote Horace Walpole, " the town
was like a country fair, the streets filled from morning to
night, scaffolds building wherever you could or could not
see, and coaches arriving from every corner of the kingdom.
This hurry and lively scene, with the sight of the immense
crowds in the Park and on every house, the guards, and
the machine itself, which was very beautiful, was all that
was worth seeing." Horace had little to say in praise of
the fireworks themselves, and Handel's music he did not
so much as mention. " The fireworks by no means
answered the expense, the length of preparation, and the
expectation that had been raised. The rockets and
whatever was thrown up into the air succeeded mighty
well; but the wheels and all that was to compose the
principal part were pitiful and ill-conducted, with no
changes of coloured fire and shapes. The illumination
was mean, and lighted so slowly that scarce anybody had
patience to wait the finishing ; and then what contributed
to the awkwardness of the whole, was the right pavilion
catching fire and being burnt down in the middle of the
show. The King, the Duke, and Princess Emily saw it
from the Library,^ with their courts ; the Prince and
Princess, with their children, from Lady Middlesex's, no
place being provided for them, nor any invitation given
to the Library." ^
Handel's music, which consisted of an overture and
five short movements, the latter intended to illustrate
some of the " set pieces," was scored for fifty-six wind
instruments, including a serpent, this being the only
^ Built by Queen Caroline on ground now occupied by Stafford House.
^ Letter, vol. ii.
202 HANDEL
occasion on which he ever wrote a part for that now
forgotten instrument, though a note preserved among the
Handel manuscripts in the FitzwilHam Museum seems to
imply that it was used in performances of Samson and
Solomon. At that time the serpent was said to be a good
deal used in French orchestras, though it was rarely to
be met with in England and Germany. When Handel
first heard it he is said to have asked, " What the devil
be that ? " He was told that it was an instrument called
a serpent. " A serpent ! " he replied ; " Ay, but not the
serpent that seduced Eve." Handel's music, which was
ready long before Servandoni's pavilion, was publicly
rehearsed at Vauxhall Gardens a week before the actual
peace celebration. According to the Gentleman s Magazine
the audience on that occasion reached the almost incredible
total of twelve thousand persons. This being so it is not
surprising to read in a description of the proceedings :
" So great a resort occasioned such a stoppage on London
Bridge, that no carriage could pass for three hours. The
footmen were so numerous as to obstruct the passage,
so that a scuffle ensued in which some gentlemen were
wounded." At the fireworks themselves there were
accidents as well. Horace Walpole says that two people
were killed, and some excitement was caused by the
arrest of Servandoni himself, who completely lost his head
when his cherished pavilion caught fire, and drew his
sword upon the Controller of the Ordnance. He was
taken into custody, but was discharged the next day on
asking pardon of the Duke of Cumberland.^
Handel's music survived the occasion for which it was
composed. He gave a performance of it at the Foundling
Hospital a month later, together with a selection from
^ Gentleman's Masrazine.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 203
Solomon and a new anthem, " Blessed are they that consider
the poor," which was written for the occasion. The Prince
and Princess of Wales were present, and the Hospital
must have netted a handsome sum by the performance,
for the tickets were half a guinea apiece, and the audience
amounted to over a thousand. Handel was nothing if
not charitable. Through the darkest days of his manager-
ship he never omitted his annual performance in aid of
the fund established for the benefit of decayed musicians.
It will be remembered, too, that TJie Messiah was first
given for a charitable object. The Foundling Hospital
benefited more than any other institution by Handel's
generosity. He followed up his performance of the Fire-
works Music in May 1749 by presenting the Hospital with
a new organ, which he opened in person with a perform-
ance of The Messiah on the ist of May 1750. From
that time until his death Handel continued to give
at least one performance annually of The Messiah in the
Foundling Chapel, each one of which meant an addition
of some ;^500 to the Hospital exchequer. In his will,
too, he bequeathed a full score and a complete set of parts
of his masterpiece to the Hospital, a gift which, according
to the custom of the time, carried with it the right, though
not the exclusive right, of performance. The Trustees of
the Hospital seem in this case to have acted rather a
grasping part. Knowing of the bequest which Handel
had made in their favour, they determined to take time
by the forelock, and to petition Parliament, during the
lifetime of the composer, to accord to them the sole right
of performing The Messiah. This was more than Handel
could stand. " The Devil ! " he cried ; " For what shall the
Foundlings put mine oratorio in the Parliament? The
Devil ! Mine Musick shall not go to the Parliament."
204 HANDEL
Meanwhile the oratorios went serenely on. Some
were more successful than others, but on the whole
Handel's affairs were in a more favourable condition
than at any previous period of his career. The tide had
turned at last, and he was on the high road to prosperity.
His health was good, too, and in every way fortune
seemed to smile upon him. Lord Shaftesbury, in a
letter to a friend dated the 13th of February 1750, gives
a pleasant glimpse of the composer : " I have seen
Handel several times since I came hither, and think I
never saw him so cool and well. He is quite easy in
his behaviour, and has been pleasing himself in the
purchase of several fine pictures, particularly a large
Rembrandt, which is indeed excellent. We have scarce
talked at all about musical subjects, though enough to
find his performances will go off incomparably well."^
Curiously enough, it was with nature rather than with
man that Handel had now to contend. In the early part
of the year 1750 London was visited by an epidemic of
earthquakes. People were thoroughly frightened, and
numbers went into the country. " They say they are
not frightened," laughed Horace Walpole, " but that it
is such fine weather, Lord, one can't help going into the
country." ^ Mrs. Montagu noted the effect upon Handel's
audiences : " I was not under any apprehensions about
the earthquake, but went that night to the Oratorio, then
quietly to bed, but. the madness of the multitude was
prodigious. Near fifty of the people I had sent to, to
play at cards here the Saturday following, went out of
town to avoid being swallowed, and I believe they made
a third part of the number I asked, so that you may
^ Malmesbury Papers, vol. i. p. 77.
" Walpole, Letters, vol. ii. p. 435.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 205
imagine how universal the fright must be. The
Wednesday night the Oratorio was very empty, though
it was the most favourite performance of Handel's." ^
Theodora, which had been composed in June and July
1749, was produced on the i6th of March 1750, at the
height of the earthquake scare. It never recovered from
its unlucky start, or won a tithe of the popularity
accorded to The Messiah, Samson, or Judas. This was
partly due, no doubt, to the libretto, which was far from
being one of the amiable Morell's triumphs. " Handel
himself," Morell wrote, "valued it more than any per-
formance of the kind, and when I once asked him,
whether he did not look upon the Grand Chorus in
The Messiah as his Masterpiece ? ' No,' says he, ' I think
the chorus at the end of the second part in Theodora
far beyond it, " He saw the lovely Youth." ' The second
night of Theodora was very thin indeed, tho' the
Princess Amelia was there, I guessed it a losing night,
so did not go to Mr. Handel as usual ; but seeing him
smile, I ventured, when, ' Will you be there next Friday
night,' says he, ' and I will play it to you ? ' I told him
I had just seen Sir T. Hankey, and he desired me to
tell you, that if you would have it again, he would
engage for all the Boxes. ' He is a fool ; the Jews will
not come to it (as to Judas) because it is a Christian
story; and the ladies will not come, because it is a
virtuous one.' " ^
Apropos of Handel's smile, which had so invigorating
an effect upon Morell's nerves, Burney records a some-
what similar impression of the great man. " His general
look," he says, " was somewhat heavy and sour, but when
^ Climenson, Elizabeth Montagu, vol. i. p. 274.
^ Hist. MSS. Commission, Report xv. Appendix, pt. 2.
2o6 HANDEL
he did smile, it was his sire the sun bursting out of a
black cloud." ^ Theodora, however, was no smiling matter.
The public would not have it at any price. Some of
Handel's friends, according to Burney, would not even
take tickets for it as a gift, though they begged the
composer shortly afterwards to give them seats for
The Messiah. This was too much for Handel. " Oh,
your servant, meine Herren," he cried, " you are
damnable dainty ! You would not go to Theodora.
There was room enough to dance there, when that
was performed." At another time, however, he took a
humorous view of the situation, and when some one
observed that the house was half-empty, replied : " Never
mind, the music will sound the better." ^
On the 1st of May 1750 came the performance of
The Messiah at the Foundling Hospital, to which
reference has already been made. This was so successful
that it had to be repeated on the 15th, many persons who
had actually bought tickets for the first performance
being unable to get into the chapel. In June and July
1750 Handel was engaged upon a "musical interlude"
entitled T]ie Choice of Hercules. In the composition
of the work he utilised a good deal of the incidental
music which he had written a few months previously
for Smollett's play, Alceste. Rich had intended to mount
Alceste at Covent Garden with an unusual degree of
splendour. Servandoni had been commissioned to paint
the scenery, and Handel seems to have offered to
compose the music in liquidation of an outstanding debt.
But for some reason or other Alceste never saw the light,
and the play itself now seems to be irretrievably lost.
Soon after finishing The Choice of Hercules on the
^ Burney, Sketch in Commemoration. " Burney, Conimevtoration.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 207
5th of July, Handel went abroad for the last time.
Whether he went for another " cure " to Aix-la-Chapelle,
or paid a visit to his niece Johanna Friderica, now married
and living at Halle, is not known ; in fact the only record
of the trip is the following paragraph, which appeared in
the General Advertiser oiXhe. 21st of August 1750 : —
" Mr, Handel, who went to Germany to visit his
friends some time since, and between the Hague and
Haarlem had the misfortune to be overturned, by which
he was terribly hurt, is now out of danger."
Meanwhile an old friend of Handel's had been getting
into serious trouble. Earlier in the year Francesca
Cuzzoni, the heroine of the operatic squabbles of twenty
years before, had appeared upon the scene of her former
triumphs. She was middle-aged by this time, and had
squandered all the money that she had made in her
youth. Her voice too was a mere shadow of what it
had once been. Since her last appearance in England
her career had been singularly chequered. Her first
achievement on returning to Italy had been to poison
her husband Sandoni in Venice. She was tried for her
life, but got off with a sentence of perpetual banishment
from the Republic, For the next ten years she sang
chiefly in Germany. We hear of her at Hamburg and
again at Stuttgart, where her quarrels with Marianne
Pirker, a rival soprano, recalled the days of the Faustina-
Cuzzoni riots.^ When she arrived in England Handel
gave her an engagement for old acquaintance sake, and
she sang in one of his performances of The Messiah.
But her day was over, and she soon sank into difficulties.
In August 1750 Horace Walpole wrote: "Another
celebrated Polly has been arrested for £10^ even the old
^ Sittard, Miisik am Wiirttembergischen Hofe, Bd, ii.
2o8 HANDEL
Cuzzoni. The Prince of Wales bailed her — who will do
as much for him ? " ^ She left London for ever soon
afterwards, and died a few years later in great poverty
at Bologna.
Handel was back again in London by the end of the
year, and in January 1751 began the composition of
JepJitJia. He worked at this until the 23rd of February,
when ill-health compelled him to break off, and he did
not resume his task until the month of June. This
forced cessation of activity was doubtless caused by a
return of the mental disorder which first drove him to
the baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, aggravated in the present
instance by symptoms of the blindness which was
shortly to descend upon him. Indications of the
approaching failure of his sight are plainly revealed by
a glance at the autograph of JephtJia. His health, how-
ever, permitted him to take part in two performances of
TJie Messiah given at the Foundling Hospital on the
1 8th of April and the i6th of May respectively, at the
second of which, according to the Genej-al Advertiser,
he played a voluntary on the organ, " which met with
universal applause." Soon afterwards he paid a visit to
Cheltenham and tried a course of the waters there,
returning to London on the 13th of June, presumably
restored to health. He resumed work on Jephtha a {&-w
days later, and finished it on the 30th of August. The
oratorio was produced on the 26th of February 1752.
With Jephtha Handel brought to a close the long series
of his oratorios. During his remaining years his failing
eyesight made composition a difficult business, and his
energies were devoted chiefly to presiding at the per-
formances of his oratorios.
^ Walpole, Letters, vol. iii.
CHAPTER XIV
HANDEL'S BLINDNESS AND DEATH, 1751-1759
T^HE battle was won at last. The struggle had been
long and severe, but Handel had come out a
conqueror in the end. With everything against him he
had won by sheer force of personality. What Pitt was
doing in the world of politics, Handel had done in the
world of art. Different as were the spheres in which they
worked, " the Great Commoner " and the composer of The
Messiah had much in common, and the cause for which
they fought was practically the same. Both were poets
in an age of prose, transcendentalists waging mortal
conflict with the forces of materialism. The era of
Walpole was the apotheosis of common sense. Under
a veneer of courtliness and polish society was coarse,
selfish and sceptical— sceptical of faith and enthusiasm^
sceptical even of itself "Every one laughs," said
Montesquieu on his visit to England, "if one talks of
religion." Morality was out of fashion, drunkenness and
obscenity were thought no disgrace to the highest in the
land. Every man, according to Walpole, had his price.
The throne was occupied by a dynasty which it was
impossible to respect, loyalty was a thing forgotten,
patriotism an empty name. But the very commercialism
of Walpole's rule was forming a race full of promise for
the future.
14
210 HANDEL
Through the long years of peace and prosperity a
middle class was being created which held the future in
its hand. Inarticulate at first, it was only to learn its
power by years of struggle and endeavour. Of this class
Pitt was the spokesman. He had sprung from it, and he
knew its value. " It is the people who have sent me
here," he cried to the Cabinet that opposed his will. In
the Parliament of that day he stood alone, the depth of
his conviction, his fiery energy, his poetic imagination, his
appeal to the higher instincts of mankind contrasting
strangely with the mercenary opportunism of the world in
which he moved. England rallied round the man whose
hands were clean in an age of corruption, whose life was
pure in the midst of debauchery, and who loved his
country with a passionate reverence that struck a new
note in an age of self-seeking and party faction.
Handel's appeal was based on similar grounds. The
turning-point of his career was when in 1747 he threw aside
his subscription and appealed to the public at large. The
aristocracy had failed him and he turned to the middle
class. There he found the audience that he had sought
in vain in the pampered worldlings of the court. The
splendid seriousness of Handel's music, its wide humanity,
its exaltation of thought, its unfaltering dignity of utterance,
had fallen on deaf ears so long as he appealed only to an
aristocratic audience. It was in the heart and brain of the
middle class that Handel found at last an echo to his
clarion call. For fifty years he had piped in vain to
princelings ; he turned to the people and found at once
the sympathy that he sought.
But neither Pitt nor Handel could have done what he
did had not English thought and feeling been guided to
higher levels by the genius of one of the greatest men
HANDEL'S BLINDNESS AND DEATH 211
produced by the eighteenth century — John Wesley. To
him the vast if gradual change that came over society
during the later years of Walpole's rule was mainly due.
The religious struggles of the Civil War and the political
struggles of the Revolution had left in the minds of the
middle class one overpowering sentiment — a craving for
peace. This craving, fostered by Walpole, who saw better
than any one what England wanted, became the parent of
our later commercial prosperity, but with regard to the
higher claims of life it induced something very like
lethargy. Of the attitude of society towards these higher
claims during the first half of the century we have already
spoken. Under the first two Georges the upper class was
frankly materialistic, the middle class apathetic, and the
lower class not far removed from sheer brutalisation.
Doubtless beneath this lethargic exterior England was
still religious, but the old Puritan spirit seemed asleep.
It was the voice of Wesley that woke it to new life. The
religious revival that he inaugurated is unparalleled in the
history of the English people. It penetrated every part
of the kingdom and every stratum of society. Its strength
and importance lay in the fact that its results were not
merely religious. Pitt's appeal was not religious, Handel's
appeal was not religious, though his oratorios dealt for the
most part with subjects technically termed sacred as
opposed to secular. Both men appealed to the higher
instincts of the nation from a wider standpoint, but
without the influence of Wesley ever preaching the
seriousness of life and the responsibility of the individual,
they would have been but the voices of men crying in the
wilderness. The audience that guffawed over the Beggar's
Opera and the audience that rose to its feet to honour the
sublime strains of The Messiah were one and the same, but
2 1 2 HANDEL
Wesley had breathed new life into dead souls, had opened
blind eyes and unstopped deaf ears, had lifted England
from its slough of sensual depravity and made it capable
of understanding the noblest outpourings of human genius.
Meanwhile the threatening blindness was becoming
a serious menace to Handel's future. Towards the close
of the year 175 1 he consulted Mr. Samuel Sharp, the
Surgeon at Guy's Hospital, who gave a most unfavourable
report of his prospect of retaining his sight. His spirits,
usually so elastic, sank, it is said, beneath this terrible
blow. But he would not give up the contest without a
struggle. The sight of one eye was already gone, but
there was a hope of saving the other. His symptoms
were those of incipient gutta seretia, a disease which
necessitated a most painful operation. Three times
Handel submitted to this, but in vain. His friends
watched the course of the malady with anxious sympathy.
In November 175 1 Mrs. Delany wrote to her sister:
" Did you hear that poor Handel has lost the sight of one
of his eyes ? " and a year later : " I hear he has now been
couched, and found some benefit from it." But all hopes
were delusive. On the 30th of January 1753 the London
Evening- Post informed its readers that : " Mr. Handel has
at length, unhappily, quite lost his sight. Upon his being
couched some time since, he saw so well that his friends
flattered themselves his sight was restored for a continu-
ance, but a few days have entirely put an end to their hopes."
Like Milton, whose poetry he had set to such incom-
parable music, he was to end his days in darkness, but
like Milton he made up his mind to —
' ' Argue not
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope ; but still bear up, and steer
Right onward."
HANDEL'S BLINDNESS AND DEATH 213
His eyes were useless or very nearly so — " so thick a
drop serene had quenched their orbs" — but his fingers
were as nimble as ever. He hastily summoned to his aid
the younger Smith, the son of his old friend Johann
Christopher Schmidt. Smith was then travelling on the
Continent, but he returned at once, and with his assistance
Handel contrived to continue the series of his oratorio
concerts. Handel's own share of the performance was
confined to playing organ concertos between the parts
of his oratorios. " During the oratorio season," says
Burney, " I have been told that he practised inces-
santly ; and indeed that must have been the case,
or his memory uncommonly retentive, for, after his
blindness, he played several of his old organ concertos,
which must have been previously impressed upon his
memory by practice. At last, however, he rather chose
to trust to his inventive powers than those of reminis-
cence, for, giving the band only the skeleton or
ritornels of each movement, he played all the solo
parts extempore, while the other parts left him ad
libihivi waiting for the signal of a shake, before they
played such fragments of symphony as they found in
their books." ^
Another reminiscence of Handel's blindness tells of
the emotion of the audience during a performance of
Samson^ when Beard sang with great feeling the famous
air: —
"Total eclipse! No sun, no moon!
All dark amid the blaze of noon."
The spectacle of the blind composer seated by the
organ listening to the strains in which he seemed by some
prophetic touch to have bewailed his own affliction,
' Burney, Coiin/ienioradon.
214 HANDEL
affected those present so forcibly that many of them were
moved to tears.^
Handel was not the only blind musician of that epoch.
The feats of John Stanley had already excited the wonder
and admiration of his contemporaries. Stanley had been
blind since the age of two, but his affliction interfered in
no way with the exercise of his profession. In the first
days of Handel's blindness, when he was unable to take
part in the performance of his oratorios, his surgeon, Mr.
Sharp recommended Stanley to him, as a man whose
memory never failed. Upon this, Handel, whose sense of
humour never deserted him, burst into a loud laugh and
cried : " Mr. Sharp, have you never read the Scriptures ?
Do you not remember, if the blind lead the blind, they
both fall into the ditch." ^ Afterwards, however, he found
Stanley's assistance very valuable, and after Handel's
death the performances of his oratorios were continued by
Smith and Stanley in concert.
The closing years of Handel's life, in spite of the
grievous affliction under which he laboured, were smoothed
by the universal recognition of his genius and by the
enormous popularity which his oratorios enjoyed. He
lived a very quiet life, absorbed by music and the com-
panionship of a few old friends. Even in his younger
days he had gone but little into society, save to preside
at the concerts given by the Royal Family, the Duke of
Rutland, Lord Burlington, and other patrons and friends.
Now his circle was sadly narrowed. The Prince of Wales
died in 175 1, but Handel was not permitted to immortalise
his memory as he had immortalised that. of his mother,
Queen Caroline. Frederick, pursued by his father's hatred
even beyond the tomb, was buried in Henry VIl's chapel
^ Coxe, Anecdotes of Hatidel.
HANDEL'S BLINDNESS AND DEATH 215
"without either anthem or organ "^ and Handel's music
was heard no more in Carlton House. During the last
few years of his life he rarely left his house in Brook
Street save to make an expedition to the City for the
purpose of investing the money that he made by his
concerts. Considering that these only took place during
Lent, it is indeed a remarkable fact that although a bank-
rupt in 1746 he died worth ^20,000. Burney relates that
a friend of his, "who was generally at the performance
of each oratorio in the year 1759 and who used to visit
Handel after it was over in the treasury of the theatre's
office, said that the money he used to take to his carriage
of a night, though in gold and silver, was as likely to
weigh him down and throw him into a fever, as the copper
money of the painter Correggio, if he had as far to carry
it." James Smyth told Bernard Granville that during
his last season Handel made £igSO by his oratorios.
Handel's blindness prevented him from composing much
during these closing years. His most important work was
the remodelling of his early oratorio, // Trionfo del Tempo,
which it will be remembered had been performed in a
revived and enlarged form in the year 1737. It was now
translated into English by Morell, and enlarged by the
addition of seventeen additional pieces, a few of which
were entirely new and must have been dictated by Handel
to Smith, The rest were adapted from earlier works.
In its new form The Triumph of Time and Truth was
produced on the nth of March 1757. It was evidently
much liked, since it was given no fewer than four times in
1757 and twice in 1758. Time had not robbed Handel's
touch of its old mastery. Still in his ashes lived their
wonted fires. The new numbers in The Triumph of Time
^ George Bubb Dodington, Diary.
2i6 HANDEL
and Truth are in no sense inferior to the old, while the
duet and chorus, " Sion now her head shall raise," which
was added to Judas Maccabceus in 1758, is one of the
finest numbers Handel ever wrote. Up to the last he was
still busy. In March 1759 Solomon and Susanna were
performed, in each case " with new additions and altera-
tions." These alterations, however, may very possibly
have been made some years previously, and Burney states
positively that " Sion now her head shall raise " was
actually the last piece composed by Handel. It is worth
noting by those who are exercised in mind by Handel's
use of themes taken from the works of other composers,
that this number is founded upon a melody by Bononcini.
Whatever may be thought of Handel's artistic morality,
it had at any rate the virtue of consistency ! Handel
seems to have relinquished few of his ordinary pursuits in
consequence of his blindness. We hear of him playing
at a concert at Mrs, Donnellan's in 1755, and helping
Bernard Granville to choose an organ in the following
year.^
One of the latest recorded incidents of Handel's
career relates to his old friend John Christopher Schmidt,
or Smith as he now called himself, who had been his
constant companion for forty years. About four years
before his death, he paid a visit to his favourite watering-
place, Tunbridge Wells, accompanied by Smith. They
quarrelled, as old friends will, over some absurd trifle,
and parted in anger, vowing never to see each other
again. The younger Smith, however, remained with
Handel, and one day shortly after the quarrel Handel
took his faithful secretary by the hand, and told him that
he had made up his mind to put his name in his will in
^ Correspondence of Mrs. Delany, vol. iii.
HANDEL'S BLINDNESS AND DEATH 217
place of his father's. Smith, however, declared that if
Handel did so, he would instantly quit him and take no
further share in his oratorio performances, " for," he added,
what will the world think, if you set aside my father
and leave his legacy to me? They will suppose that I
tried and succeeded in undermining him for my own
advantage." Handel yielded the point, and shortly after-
wards he was reconciled to Smith the father through the
intercession of the son.
The end came with startling suddenness. Some
months before his death, his appetite — usually a large one,
as is not unfrequent in men of powerful intellect — had
failed. He took this as a presage of his approaching end,
but did not on that account give up his usual occupations.
He conducted a performance of The Messiah on the 6th
of April with no lack of his accustomed energy, but at the
end of it he was seized with a faintness which sent him
at once to his bed. He never rose again, but died some
time in the night between the 13th and 14th of April
1759. It is curious, in the case of so celebrated a man,
that there should be any doubt as to the hour at which
he expired, yet such is the case. Dr. Warren, who
attended the composer in his last illness, told Burney
that Handel died before midnight on the 13th. James
Smyth, on the other hand, who was Handel's most
intimate friend, in a letter to Bernard Granville, the
brother of Mrs. Delany, and another of the composer's
dearest friends, distinctly states that he died on the 14th
at eight o'clock in the morning. Neither, however, seems
to have been present at the actual moment of death.
Handel's funeral took place on the 20th of April at about
eight o'clock in the evening. He was buried in the so-
called Poets' Corner, in the south transept of Westminster
21 8 HANDEL
Abbey, in the presence of " a vast concourse of persons of
all ranks, not fewer than three thousand in number." ^
The monument by Roubiliac, which adorns the
sepulchre, was erected in 1762. It has the faults of its
creator and its period, but it is a spirited piece of work,
and was pronounced by contemporary critics to be the
best portrait of Handel in existence.
With regard to Handel's external semblance we are,
indeed, rich in documents. Many excellent portraits
survive, and we possess descriptions of him by contempor-
ary writers, from which it not difficult to gather an idea of
the man in his habit as he lived. His large and portly
person, his awkward gait, his features — somewhat severe
in expression until illuminated by a sudden smile — all
these are as familiar to us as they were to his con-
temporaries. The character of the man is more difficult
to come by. Like most men of exceptional power and
grandeur of mind, he was too far above his contemporaries
for them to realise his true greatness. They saw only the
superficial aspects of his personality, and the little foibles
or eccentricities of his character. Judging him by their
own standard, they found him wanting in many of the
minor graces that smooth the trivial round of life. He
had a hasty temper, and habitually swore like a trooper.
His manner was often rough and peremptory, but
he never bore malice. He cared little for the world
of civil formality, and was happier at home with a few
chosen friends about him, than in dancing attendance
upon empty-headed aristocrats whom he could not but
despise in his heart. This independent behaviour of his
often stood in the way of his success, but he never yielded
an inch where dignity and self-respect were concerned.
^ Gentleman's Magazine.
HANDEL'S BLINDNESS AND DEATH 219
He was said to be ignorant and dull outside the affairs of
his own profession — a charge often brought against those
whose tastes happen not to coincide with the fashionable
follies of the hour. He was, on the contrary, a man of
considerable cultivation. His education had been far
more complete than was then usual in the case of
musicians, and his admirable taste in art matters is
mentioned by several contemporaries who were well
qualified to judge. His amiable biographers have unan-
imously attempted to persuade themselves and their
readers that Handel was what is called a pious man.
Everything on the contrary goes to prove that his religion
was eminently of the type which, as Disraeli observed,
all sensible men profess, but no sensible man talks
about. According to Hawkins he often spoke of his good
fortune in having taken up his abode in a country where
no one suffered any molestation or inconvenience on
account of his religious opinions. This does not sound
like the utterance of a very ardent Christian, and there
is something suspicious, too, about the sacred rapture
with which the venerable Hawkins recorded the fact that
during the last two or three years of his life Handel
attended divine service at St. George's, Hanover Square.
Dr. Beattie,^ writing in 1780, professes to believe that
Handel, " in spite of all that has been said to the contrary,
must have been a pious man," so it is plain that his con-
temporaries were by no means unanimous upon the point.
Handel's description of his feelings while composing the
"Hallelujah" chorus: " I did think I did see heaven
opened and the great God Himself," have often been
quoted as an illustration of the sincerity of his religion.
It has, as a matter of fact, nothing to do with the question.
^ Forbes, Life and Writings of James Beattie, 1807, p. 331.
2 20 HANDEL
It merely shows that he was a man of powerful imagina-
tion. Doubtless while he was writing the " Hallelujah "
chorus his imagination conjured up a vision of the glory
of heaven. Similarly, while writing his famous chorus of
devil-dancers in JepJitha, he saw with the inward eye
the high places of Canaan and " the dismal dance around
the furnace blue." But he has never been claimed on that
account as a worshipper of Moloch. But speculations of
this sort are idle at best. It is wiser to turn to Handel's
works, where the man and his character, his hopes and
beliefs, his dreams and ambitions are writ large for all to
read.
CHAPTER XV
THE OPERAS
HANDEL'S operas are singularly difficult to discuss
in terms of ordinary criticism. They were ex-
travagantly praised by the connoisseurs of his time, but
their vogue was brief. Five - and - twenty years after
Handel's death they had passed almost entirely from the
current repertory, and save for the revival of Alinira in
1874 on the occasion of the opening of the new Hamburg
opera-house, it must be considerably more than a hundred
years since any one of them was publicly performed.
Compared with his oratorios, they now seem sadly remote
from the circle of modern sympathy. Opera since
Handel's day has developed with extraordinary rapidity,
whereas oratorio has tended to advance but little upon
specially characteristic lines. To the average historian,
therefore, Handel's oratorios still represent the highest
point hitherto reached in this particular department of
music, while his operas are usually dismissed as a
negligible quantity. It is true that the most revolutionary
changes in public taste could hardly restore Handel's
operas to the stage, at any rate under the conditions in
which they were performed in his lifetime. The dis-
appearance of that repulsive anomaly, the male soprano,
has made it impossible for us to give a faithful reproduc-
22 2 HANDEL
tion of eighteenth century opera. Yet in an adapted form
Handel's operas might still find a public, fit though few.
There is no reason why those who still have ears for
Gluck should not appreciate the beauties of Handel. It
is plain that a work written for the stage cannot be
properly judged in the study, and until Handel's operas
have been performed on the boards they cannot be
dismissed as trifling or ineffective. His conventions
differ widely, it is true, from those affected by the
composers of our day, but even here he has been mis-
judged by many who have discussed his methods. It is
generally said, for instance, that his operas are nothing
but a string of solos and duets, with a solitary chorus to
bring down the curtain.
A cursory examination of the works in question
reveals that this is not the case. Handel used the chorus
in his operas more freely than is usually stated, and when
occasion demanded he wrote concerted numbers for solo
voices in a manner ordinarily looked upon as the
invention of a later age. In the opera of Alcina, for
example, the chorus is freely used in the scenes in which
the victims of the enchantress Alcina appear, and there is
a trio in which the conflicting passions of three characters
are painted with extraordinary power. Agrippina has
several short concerted movements, and in Radamisto
there is an elaborate and highly dramatic quartet. It is
noticeable, too, that as Handel advanced in years and
experience he employed the chorus more extensively. In
his latest operas, such as Giustino, Ivieneo, and Deidamia,
the chorus plays a decidedly more important part than in
his earlier works. But at no time did Handel permit the
rules and conventions that governed opera in his day
to override his own judgment. What these rules and
THE OPERAS 223
conventions were may be read in Rockstro's Handel, but
as that learned historian was obHged to admit that
Handel paid little attention to them, and indeed
contravened them in every opera that he wrote, it does
not seem advisable to linger over them. Handel followed
the fashion of his day in the construction of his librettos,
in the introduction of the inevitable confidantes and the
no less inevitable underplot, but within certain limits he
permitted himself all the freedom that he desired. The
conventions of one age always appear foolish to another,
but we must not let them blind us to the value of the
work with which they are associated. But apart from
convention, Handel's view of opera differed widely from
that of our day. He treated it lyrically rather than
dramatically, and who shall say that he was wrong? In
our time opera has tended more and more to approach
the confines of drama. Disregarding the one immutable
convention by which opera exists as an art-form — the
substitution of song for speech — we aim at a bastard
realism, striving to bring the song of opera as near as
possible to the speech of drama. Nothing can make
opera realistic ; it is conventional in essence ; the less
lyrical and the more dramatic it is, the less has it a reason
for separate existence. Handel set his dialogue as
recitative, and when a lyrical moment called for an
intenser method of utterance he rose into song. With
what success he did so cannot be declared until one of his
operas has been heard upon the stage, but no one who
accepts Mozart as a master of opera can condemn Handel
on the ground of form. Certain conventions apart, the
two men worked upon similar lines, and I have a strong
impression that a performance of one of Handel's
operas would be a surprise to the critics and historians
2 24 HANDEL
who habitually speak of them as a bundle of dry
bones.
In Almira we see Hercules in his cradle. It is the
one opera of Handel's Hamburg period that fate has
preserved for us, and fortunately it appears from con-
temporary accounts that it was the best of all of them.
Immature as it unquestionably is, it is an astonishing
work for a boy of nineteen to have written. As to the
libretto, the less said about it the better. Almira is a
comedy of love and intrigue, in which three amorous
couples and a comic servant plot and counterplot with
bewildering assiduity. A trained audience might con-
ceivably follow the devious mazes of the imbroglio with
some success, but the thing defies verbal description.
Handel's music is astonishing in its life and vigour.
From the sonorous overture, so different in its passionate
impetuosity from Keiser's pretty little preludes, to the
final ensemble the spirit of youth seems to breathe in
every bar of it. Weaknesses of course there are. The
vocal writing is often awkward, and the recitatives are
sometimes clumsily handled. But whenever a situation
shows a spark of dramatic feeling, as in that of Fernando's
farewell, Handel rises immediately to the occasion.
Already, too, his power of characterisation had begun to
develop. The passionate Almira is boldly and brilHantly
sketched, and most of the characters have distinguishing
traits. In this point if in nothing else Handel was
markedly Keiser's superior. Particularly good in the
comic servant Tabarco, whose music has often more than
a suggestion of the immortal Papageno. In many points
the maturer Handel is interestingly foreshadowed in
Almira. The orchestration has some characteristic
touches, and the little nature-sketches are in the true
THE OPERAS 225
Handelian manner. The breezes whisper divinely-
through the Hnden branches in Edilia's first air " Schonste
Rosen," and Fernando's " LiebHche Walder " is a charming
woodland idyll. Very interesting, too, to Handelian
students is the Sarabande — a rough sketch for the famous
air which appeared in // Trionfo del Tempo three years
later, and figured again as the famous " Lascia ch' io
pianga " in Rinaldo. In Almira it is a ballet-tune used to
accompany a dance of Asiatics in the last act.
Handel's Florentine opera, Rodrigo, has only come
down to us in an imperfect form. The second act is
complete, but the beginning of the first and the end of
the third are wanting. Enough of it, however, remains to
give us a good idea of its style. It is very different in
atmosphere from the semi-farcical entertainments that
were popular in Hamburg. Ferdinand dei Medici found
Scarlatti's operas too serious, but he must have thought
that with Rodrigo he had fallen from the frying-pan into
the fire. Rodrigo is all battle, murder, and sudden death.
Roderick, the King of the Visigoths, is surrounded by
enemies and traitors. His wife Esilena tries to buy his
safety by offering to yield her share of the throne to her
hated rival Florinda. Esilena and Florinda are happily
contrasted in the manner of Elsa and Ortrud, and the
scene in which Esilena makes her offer is very spirited
and vigorous, the recitative being treated with a much
firmer hand than in Almira. The character of Esilena is
finely sketched. Her music has a warmth and tenderness
which already shows the hand of the master, and the air
in which she vows that not death shall part her from
Rodrigo, and pictures herself wandering with him by the
gloomy shore of Acheron is extraordinarily fine. Florinda
has some fine music, too, though she flickers out towards
15
2 26 HANDEL
the close of the work ; but the gem of the opera is
Rodrigo's deHcious air " Dolce amor," a melody of
celestial loveliness which reappears in Agrippina and //
Pastor Fido. Handel used his Almira music a good deal
in Rodrigo, and it is interesting to note the improvements
resulting from the experience of two years' hard work and
the study, perhaps, of Italian models.
In Agrippina Handel found himself in a totally
different world from that of Rodrigo. Agrippina, for all
its high-sounding name and the exalted personages who
move through it, is nothing but a comedy of love and
intrigue. The classical tradition died hard in Italy. The
old operas had dealt solely with Greek mythology, and
though the librettos of the eighteenth century had sunk
deep in triviality, the fashion of naming the heroes after
the great men of old was kept up merely for the sake
of appearance. Thus in the world of opera Xerxes and
Julius Caesar still disported themselves upon the boards,
even though the plot of the opera that they figured in
might be borrowed from some Spanish comedy. Agrippina
has only the very slightest connection with Roman history.
It is a close-knit tangle of trickery and scheming, centring
in Agrippina's endeavour to secure the throne for her son
Nero. It would serve no good purpose to unravel its
intricate network of intrigue. The plot is tedious, but the
characters are well contrasted and skilfully drawn. The
scheming Agrippina is a good foil to the light-hearted,
frivolous Poppea, and Claudius, the amorous Emperor, is
happily contrasted with the loyal Otho and the effeminate
Nero ; while the picture is completed by the two courtiers
Pallas and Narcissus, whose alliance Agrippina secures
by feigning love for the pair of then. Handel's hand is
firmer in Agrippina than in Rodrigo. He sketches his
THE OPERAS 227
characters with a livelier and more vigorous touch. The
music was probably written in a hurry, and Handel
borrowed largely from his previous works. Rodrigo,
II Trionfo del Tempo, and even La Resurrezione are
laid under frequent contribution. When changes are
made, they are always improvements, and almost in-
variably in the direction of conciseness and compactness.
Note, for instance, the altered rhythm in " Ingannata un
sol volta," an adaptation of the lovely air " Dolce amor "
from Rodrigo, and the pruning of the superfluous and
meaningless ornaments of " Crede I'uom " from // Trionfo,
which in Agrippina becomes " Vaghe fonti," and, most
striking of all, the development of the rather common-
place " Un leggiadro giovinetto" from // Trionfo into the
famous " Bel piacer." Now and then a song seems
to have been pitchforked rather unadvisedly into the
opera, mainly perhaps on account of its intrinsic tuneful-
ness. The dainty little air from La Resurrezione, " Ho un
non so che nel cor," sounds oddly on the lips of the
masculine Agrippina, and the two courtiers seem to have
been fitted with songs in somewhat indiscriminate manner.
But the new music shows all Handel's genius for character-
isation. Claudius's " Vieni, o cara" is one of the most
voluptuous love-songs Handel ever wrote, and " lo di
Roma il Giove sono" has just the right note of pompous
splendour. Poppea's songs are grace and delicacy personi-
fied. One of them, " Bel piacer," appeared again in
Rinaldo, and became enormously popular in England.
Agrippina's music is appropriately vigorous and deter-
mined. Her great air, " Pensieri, voi tormentate," is
almost worthy of one of the passionate heroines of
Handel's later dramas. Handel seems to have had a
peculiar affection for Agrippina, and he often used it in
228 HANDEL
his later works. Pallas's vigorous air, " La mia sorte
fortunata" (itself an adaptation, much altered and im-
proved, of an air in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo), cropped up
again in Jephtha nearly fifty years later, and the charming
gavotte-song subsequently became famous as " Heroes,
when with glory burning," in Joshua. A special feature
of Agrippina is the unusual numbers of songs alia
Siciliana which it contains. This alone, apart from
documents, should have convinced Chrysander that it was
written after Handel's visit to Naples, where, according
to that learned historian, he first learnt to appreciate the
beauty of this particular rhythm ; but as a matter of fact,
it need only prove that Handel had made acquaintance
with the music of Scarlatti, whose operas abound in so-
called Sicilianas, though their composer being himself
a Sicilian, and knowing perfectly well what the real
characteristics of Sicilian music were, did not so term
them. 1
With Agrippina Handel's apprenticeship ended. He
had now learnt all that Italy could teach him. His style,
so far as opera was concerned, was formed. Mr. E. J.
Dent, in his valuable work on Scarlatti, has summed up
so admirably the question of the extent to which Handel
was influenced by Italy and Italian composers, that I
cannot do better than quote what he says upon the
subject. " On Handel Scarlatti's influence was strong
at the beginning, but not very lasting or profound.
Certainly the change of style that took place in his
music after his visit to Italy is very noticeable. Rinaldo
is as definitely Italian as Almira is definitely German in
its manner. But although he began by modelling his
phrases on Scarlatti after his visit to Italy, he very
1 E. J. Dent, Alessandro Scarlatti^ p. 151,
THE OPERAS 229
seldom enters thoroughly into Scarlatti's style. There
are several reasons for this. His acquaintance with
Scarlatti lasted a very short time, and his age made
him more suited to the companionship of Domenico,
whose influence can also be traced in much of his work.
Moreover, Handel, though only twenty-one when he came
to Italy, was a fully fledged composer. He was not very
familiar with the Italian style, but his Italian Dixit
Dominus is in some ways stronger than anything of
Scarlatti's in that line. Handel had had a Protestant
organist's training, which taught him to build up his
music on a strong, harmonic framework. But in spite
of the advantage of that wonderful German faculty for
translating and assimilating the work of other countries,
which accounts for much of the greatness of Handel,
Bach, Gluck, and Mozart, Handel had also the drawbacks
of his nationality. He set Italian, as he set English, like
a foreigner, never approaching that delicate intimacy of
declamation which is as characteristic a quality of Scar-
latti as it is of Purcell. And it must be remembered that
a literary appreciation of the kind may take effect not
only in impassioned recitative, but also in the most
melodious and florid of arias. Handel's coloratura is
fairly effective in many cases, but it is commonplace in
detail. . . . Handel seems to nail his coloratura to its
framework ; Scarlatti's often gains a priceless charm by
its wayward independence. Handel often reminds us of
some prudish nymph of Rubens, clutching her drapery
tightly about her, anxious and ungraceful ; Scarlatti
recalls Tintoretto's Venus, her loose transparent girdle
fluttering crisply to the breeze, serving its whole purpose
in the delicate contrast that it makes with the pure firm
line of her perfectly poised and rounded form. Besides
2 30 HANDEL
Scarlatti, two other Italian composers exercised an
equally strong influence upon Handel : the eclectic
Steffani, from whom Handel learned to write overtures
and dances in what we may call an Italian version of
the style of LuUi ; and Bononcini, who, in spite of his bad
reputation among Handel's admirers, seems to have been
the real originator of what is commonly described as the
"Handelian style" — the straightforward, square-cut march,
which Sullivan parodied so inimitably in Princess Ida.
Bononcini even influenced Scarlatti himself, and it is
therefore not surprising that a man of Handel's tempera-
ment should have seized more readily on the salient
mannerisms of Bononcini and Steffani than on the more
intricate subtleties of Scarlatti's music." ^
Rinaldo is usually pronounced the finest, as it certainly
is the most famous, of Handel's operas. It is easy to
understand why this should be so. It had the great
advantage of coming first ; it introduced Handel to
London, and lifted him at once to the position of the
most popular composer of the day. It struck a new note
of splendour and romance. It rang with the clash and
glitter of arms. It had everything that could captivate
the ear and eye of the crowd — brilliant music, a com-
prehensible story, gorgeous scenery, novel stage effects
and admirable singers. But as a matter of fact it is far
from being the best of Handel's operas, or even among
the best. It has the advantage of a fine subject, it is true.
After the puerile absurdities of Alniira, the conventional
melodrama of Rodrigo, and the pettifogging intrigue of
Agrippina it must have been a relief to Handel to breathe
the chivalric atmosphere of the Gerusalenime Liberata ;
and he contrived to pierce through the poor bald diction
^ E. J. Dent, Scarlatti, p. 199.
THE OPERAS 231
of the librettist to the wonderful world of romance that
moved behind — Crusaders and Paynim warriors in shining
array, Armida and her sorceries, camps and ringing battle-
fields, and all the pomp and circumstance of war. But
not even Handel's genius could make Rossi's libretto a
good one. To see with what sedulous assiduity the poet
contrived to miss every opportunity one need only com-
pare it with that of Gluck's Armida. By the side of
Gluck's tremendous heroine Handel's Armida is a mere
shadow, and it is a significant proof of the poor part she
plays in the drama that when Rinaldo was performed at
Hamburg, the authorities for once renounced their almost
invariable custom of calling the opera after the name of
the heroine.
Rossi, for instance, makes nothing whatever of Armida's
struggles between love and revenge, nothing of the voluptu-
ous magic with which the enchantress strove to win Rinaldo
from his loyalty. Rinaldo is more sympathetically treated,
but he might have been made much more interesting than
he is. His constancy to Almirena his betrothed extorts
our respect for his virtues as a private individual, but it
detracts seriously from his merits as an operatic hero.
A Rinaldo who is not for a moment blinded by the
charms of the magic gardens, and an Armida who is
prepared to sacrifice her position as the leading sorceress
of Damascus without a struggle, cannot insinuate them-
selves very far into our sympathies. Armida is hardly
more than a sketch for some of the passionate heroines
of Handel's later dramas, and we shall find a far more
interesting Rinaldo in the person of Ruggiero in Alcina.
In a word, the psychology of Rinaldo is childish, and
Handel could make but little of it. He fell back in
despair upon the picturesque elements of the story, and
2 32 HANDEL
with them it is true that he did wonders. All the martial
part of the opera is extraordinarily spirited, and fully justi-
fies the high opinion which most critics have expressed of
the work as a whole. Nor do the beauties of Rinaldo end
here. With such meagre materials as his librettist afforded
him, Handel contrived to do a great deal. The famous
" Cara sposa " is a wonderful piece of musical characterisa-
tion, hitting off very subtly the effeminate side of Rinaldo's
character before disaster had roused him to action, and
" Ah crudel " shows what Handel might have made of
Armida if Rossi had given him a chance. Rinaldo
suffers a good deal from the haste with which it was
written. A good deal of the music was introduced into
the score from earlier works in Handel's usual manner,
sometimes with surprisingly brilliant, but at other times
with disastrous results. A great deal of Almirena's music
had been used before, but it fits very well into its place,
and the renowned " Lascia ch' io pianga " might well
have been written for the situation. Argante's opening
air, on the other hand, which was originally sung by the
Cyclops in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, though it makes a
vigorous entry for the Paynim chief, is oddly out of place.
What can one say of a plenipotentiary who opens negotia-
tions for a truce by observing apropos de bottes: —
" Alecto's snakes methinks I hear
And hungry Scylla barking near."
The curious thing is that his diplomacy is successful.
A good deal of the Rinaldo music is taken from an
Italian cantata on the subject, written during Handel's
stay at Rome, and this naturally enough fits into its place
exceedingly well. One of these passages is the entrancing
Sirens' song, which sounds as if it were an adaptation of
an Italian folk-song, and makes one regret that time and
THE OPERAS 233
his librettist did not allow Handel to make more of
Armida's enchantments, which indeed are passed over
with hardly a word. But when all is said against it
that can be said, and when it is remembered that it was
written in a fortnight, Rinaldo remains an astonishing
piece of improvisation. Its freshness and vigour are
beyond praise, and it is not difficult to understand how
it kept its place on the stage when finer and subtler
works passed into oblivion.
Of the other operas composed by Handel during his
first two visits to England, Teseo and Amadigi are the
most important. Both of them oddly enough are strik-
ingly similar in subject to Rinaldo. In all three operas
an important feature of the plot is the rivalry between a
powerful and malignant sorceress and an innocent and
trustful maiden. We have already in Rinaldo made the
acquaintance of Armida and Almirena. Their counter-
parts in Teseo are Medea and Agilea, and the plot
practically resolves itself into a duel between the two
women for the love of Theseus. The characters of both
are more carefully and elaborately drawn than their
prototypes in Rinaldo. Agilea is far more of a human
being than Almirena. There is a definite note of person-
ality running through her songs, to which Almirena's
music, hastily raked together from earlier works as it
was, can lay but little claim. Almirena is only a typical
ingenue, but Agilea is a tender and loving woman drawn
with the utmost skill and sympathy. For sheer voluptu-
ous beauty one of her airs, " Vieni, torna, idolo mio," is
scarcely to be surpassed in the whole range of Handel's
operas, and she has several other songs scarcely inferior.
Medea is the finished portrait for which Armida was a
hasty sketch. She is positively .^schylean in her rugged
2 34 HANDEL
grandeur and passionate force. By a skilful touch she
appears for the first time in a melting mood, singing a
lovely air in which the weary wanderer craves for peace
and tranquillity, but jealousy soon lashes her to fury, and
the rest of her career through the opera is a wild tempest
of conflicting passions. The great scene of the opera is
Medea's incantation, but her soliloquy in the third act,
when she has resolved upon the death of Theseus, is
another marvellous page.
Amadigi as a drama is inferior to both Rinaldo and
Teseo. The libretto is clumsily put together, and gives
comparatively little opportunity for the delineation of
character. Melissa, the sorceress, is cleverly differentiated
from her two predecessors. She is cast in a tenderer
mould, and is much more seriously in love than either
Medea or Armida. She is perhaps less imposing as a
protagonist, and indeed is rather a weak-kneed sorceress
at best. She takes her discomfiture like a suffering
woman, rather than like an injured princess. The differ-
ence in character between Handel's three enchantresses
is neatly exemplified by their respective ends. Armida
makes the best of her defeat and becomes a convert to
Christianity, Melissa commits suicide, but Medea, still
defiant and undefeated, flies off in her dragon chariot.
Regarded purely as music, Amadigi is one of Handel's
most attractive operas. Not one in the long series is
richer in beautiful and expressive songs. It is remarkably
interesting, too, to the student of Handel's development
on account of its tendency towards a less conventional
treatment of the dramatic moments of the piece. In this
respect Teseo is an advance on Rinaldo, but Amadigi
shows a still more pronounced freedom in structure.
Handel had written nothing previously that can be com-
THE OPERAS 235
pared to the scene in which the ghost of Dardanus rises
from the dead and bids Melissa refrain from persecuting
the devoted lovers. Very striking too are the passages
illustrating the swoon of Amadigi and Melissa's death-
scene, and Amadigi's air, " T'amai quanto il mio cor,"
with its rapid alternations of adagio and presto, is a good
instance of the increase in flexibility which experience
gave to Handel's method.
// Pastor Fido and Silla, though both contain much
beautiful music, are not important to the study of
Handel's operatic development.
After Amadigi Handel wrote no operas for five years.
The foundation of the Royal Academy of Music brought
him back to the stage with Radamisto, the first of the
series of fourteen operas written for that institution.
Radamisto is one of his finest and most carefully
written works. He had plenty of time, and was not driven,
as in most of his previous operas, to use music already
composed for other works. Radamisto is, I think, en-
tirely original save for one air adapted from Rodrigo,
and, clever as Handel was in working up old material,
this fact alone gives it a decided advantage over its pre-
decessors. The libretto is one of the best Handel ever set.
The plot is fresh and interesting, and the characters are
well drawn. Tiridate, the King of Armenia, has married
Polissena, the daughter of Farasmane the King of Thrace,
but he has conceived a violent passion for Zenobia, the
wife of Farasmane's son Radamisto, and in order to get
possession of her he goes to war with his father-in-law.
Farasmane is taken prisoner, but Tiridate grants his life
to the prayers of Polissena. Radamisto and Zenobia
still hold out against the tyrant, and the first act ends
with an assault upon their city.
2 36 HANDEL
When the second act opens the city has fallen, but
Radamisto and Zenobia escape by an underground pas-
sage, and come out beyond the walls, Zenobia is fainting
with fatigue and can go no further. They are surrounded
on all sides by the enemy, and escape is hopeless. Rather
than fall into the hands of Tiridate, she implores Rada-
misto to kill her. He has not the strength of mind to do
so, and she leaps into the river Araxes. Before Radamisto
can plunge in after her, he is taken prisoner by a body of
the enemy's soldiers. Their captain Tigrane, however, is
a friend. He allows Radamisto to disguise himself as
a slave, and so brings him to Polissena in safety while
he takes his garments to Tiridate as a proof of his death.
Radamisto tries to induce Polissena to help him to kill
Tiridate, but in spite of her wrongs she remains true
to her faithless husband. Meanwhile Zenobia has been
rescued from the river and is in the power of Tiridate,
who vainly endeavours to shake her fidelity to the
memory of Radamisto. Radamisto now appears in the
presence of Tiridate in his disguise, and is recognised by
Zenobia, who leaps from the depths of despair to wild
raptures of joy. Radamisto attempts the life of Tiridate,
who is saved by Polissena, and Radamisto is loaded with
chains. Meanwhile Tiridate's army has been roused to
mutiny by Tigrane, his guards desert him, and he is
at the mercy of Radamisto and Zenobia. But in an
eighteenth century opera a happy ending was de rigueur.
Tiridate is forgiven ; he takes refuge in the arms of the
faithful Polissena, and the curtain falls on general re-
joicing.
The opera is full of life and movement, the emotions
of the characters are well contrasted, and many of the
situations are admirable. Handel's music is superb
THE OPERAS 237
throughout. The first act rings with the noise of battle,
while the anguish of the deserted Polissena, the savage
fury of Tiridate and the noble dignity of the captured
Farasmane are treated with incomparable skill. The
second act opens with a lovely air for the despairing
Zenobia, followed by the famous " Ombra cara," in which
Radamisto invokes the shade of his lost wife. Later the
music rises to wonderful heights of dramatic power.
Radamisto's passionate appeal to Polissena, her dis-
tracted struggle between love for her husband and affec-
tion for her brother, Zenobia's haughty rejection of
Tiridate's insolent proposals, and her alternations of hope
and fear, when Radamisto appears, carry the interest on
without a break. The last act is less thrilling as a whole,
but it has what is perhaps the greatest thing in the work,
in the shape of a wonderfully developed quartet, which
seems to have escaped the notice of the historians who
habitually speak of Handel's operas as a string of solos.
The orchestration is throughout unusually rich and full.
Horns make what is probably their first appearance in
opera, and are used with singularly fine effect. If ever
there should be a question of reviving one of Handel's
operas on the modern stage, the claims of Radamisto
would deserve careful consideration.
After Radamisto came that curious experiment of
tripartite authorship, Muzio Scevola. Handel's share of
the work contains some splendid music, but in one solitary
act he naturally found comparatively little scope for his
genius. His next opera, Floridante, shows a complete
change of style. Bononcini had appeared upon the scene,
and the success of his Astarto gave Handel food for
reflection. Radamisto was obviously far above the heads
of the audiences of that day, and, besides, the singers
238 HANDEL
whom he then had at his command, particularly Anastasia
Robinson, were not equal to the arduous tasks he imposed
upon them. The fashionable subscribers of the Academy
were bewildered by Handel's contrapuntal ingenuity, and
they complained that his rich harmonies and fertile
orchestration prevented their following the melodies of It
the songs.
Bononcini's simple little tunes were much more to ;
their taste. What Handel thought about them and their
criticisms we can easily imagine, but he took the hint ,
notwithstanding. Thus while Bononcini was straining i
his slight, small talent in vain emulation of the sonorous i
splendour of his great rival, Handel consciously took a
leaf out of the other's book, and wrote Floridante to suit
the uncultivated taste of his patrons. Floridante presents
a strange contrast to Radamisto. It is designedly slight
in style ; several of the songs are mere ballads, and the
orchestration is simplicity itself Only here and there
does the lion's claw peep out, as in the lovely night-scene
in which the heroine, like Agathe in Der Freisduitz, listens
for the footfall of her absent lover. Ottone and Flavio
followed the same lines as Floridante. Handel now had
Cuzzoni and Senesino to write for, and in their songs he
could allow himself an occasional return to the grand
style of Radamisto, as in the very expressive " Amor, nel
mio penar" in Flavio, or in Ottone the splendid scena
" Tanti affanni,"the plaintive " Afifanni del pensier," and the
pathetic " Vieni, o figlio," in which the divine forgiveness
of a mother's love is painted in such moving colours. But
for the most part he curbed his ambition, and gave his
subscribers plenty of the pretty little Bononcinesque tunes
that they could hum as they swung home in their sedan-
chairs. In Giulio Cesare he recanted his heresies, and re-
THE OPERAS 239
turned to his own gods. Either he felt that he had noth-
ing more to fear from Bononcini, who had got into dis-
grace with the directors of the Academy, or he was tired
of dancing in fetters. At any rate Giulio Cesare is freer
in style than anything he had yet written. The libretto
of Giulio Cesare covers very much the same period as
Mr. Bernard Shaw's Ccesar and Cleopatra, but there un-
fortunately all resemblance between the two ends.
Giidio Cesare is an almost inextricable muddle of plots
and counterplots, which positively defies analysis. But
if the words are weak the music is superb. Its great
strength lies in the accompanied recitatives. " Alma del
gran Pompeo," the monologue which Caesar pronounces
over the tomb of his dead rival, has always been famous,
but there are other pages in the opera scarcely less im-
pressive, such as Caesar's great scena, " Dall' ondoso
periglio," in which recitative and arioso alternate in a
manner no other composer of the time had dared to
attempt. Very striking too is the note of romance that is
struck in certain scenes, particularly in that of the vision
of Parnassus with which Cleopatra attempts to beguile the
amorous Caesar. The music here is scored for harps, viola
da gamba and theorbo, besides the usual strings and wind,
disposed in two antiphonal orchestras. In other scenes
four horns are used with surprising effect, probably for
the first time in the history of opera, and doubtless with
the intention of suggesting the barbaric character of
Ptolemy's Egyptian cohorts. But the opera is full of
interesting details of orchestration, and deserves careful
study.
Tamerlano, in which the tenor Borosini made his
first London appearance, is scarcely inferior. The
principal characters are finely drawn and sharply con-
240 HANDEL
trasted — Tamerlane the insolent conqueror; Bajazet the
defeated emperor, old, weak, and loaded with chains, but
with spirit still unsubdued ; and Asteria, fit daughter of
such a sire. The opera abounds in scenes of keenly-
wrought dramatic fibre. There is a masterly trio in which
conflicting passions clash in wondrous harmony, and the
death of Bajazet is a passage of astonishing power, worthy
of Gluck in his loftiest moments. The old man has drunk
poison rather than witness his conqueror's triumph and
his daughter's disgrace. Asteria clings about his neck,
praying him to let her die with him. In broken accents
he bids her farewell, and with his last breath hurls curses
at Tamerlane, and bids him tremble at the terrors of a
ghostly vengeance. The scene is wrought to a climax of
astonishing power. Handel, who in his heart of hearts
hated castrati, seems to have revelled in having at last a
first-rate tenor at his command, and he wrote music for
Borosini which it would have been idle to have put in the
mouth of the effeminate Senesino. Tamerlano affords an
instance of Handel's employment of the clarinet, which
had been invented by Denner of Nuremberg about thirty
years before. In the autograph the pastoral air, " Par che
mi nasca," is accompanied by two cornetti, but in one of
Smith's copies the cornetti are replaced by " clar. et clarin.
1° et 2°." Possibly some German musicians may have
brought over specimens of the new instrument, and
Handel, always ready for new experiments in orchestra-
tion, gave them a trial. He also wrote, probably for the
same performers, a concerto for two clarinets and co7'no di
caccia, the concertino parts of which are in the Fitzwilliam
Museum at Cambridge. This work has never been
published.
Rodelinda is cast in a gentler mould. It deals largely
THE OPERAS 241
with the woes of the deserted Rodelinda, wife of Bertarido,
King of the Lombards, who believes her husband to have
been slain in battle, and is hard put to it to repel the
attentions of his successor. The opera opens very strik-
ingly with the return of Bertarido, who finds himself con-
fronted by his own tomb. His soliloquy, " Pompe vane
di morte," is one of Handel's noblest accompanied recita-
tives, and it leads into the still finer air, "Dove sei," ^ in
which Bertarido invokes the wife whom he believes to be
lost to him for ever. Later in the opera occurs a wonder-
ful dungeon scene, which has more than a suggestion
of Fidelio, while if the passion of the imprisoned Florestan
may be compared to that of Bertarido, Pizarro's famous
song may no less fairly be quoted as a counterpart to
" Fatto inferno," the tremendous scena in which Grimoaldo
pours forth his soul in tempest.
Scipio and Alessandro are distinctly on a lower level.
Scipio lives principally in the renown of its famous march,
which is said to have been written originally for the
Grenadier Guards and afterwards to have been incorpor-
ated into the opera.
In Alessandro Faustina made her debut, and the
^ The pious folk of the generation that followed Handel amused them-
selves with turning his operatic airs into sacred songs. "Dove sei "was
one that fell into their clutches and came out as " Holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty," in which version it is now probably better known than in its
original form. Sometimes this peculiar method of paying a posthumous
compliment to a popular composer worked rather neatly. As FitzGerald
pointed out, "Nasce al bosco" bore its conversion into "He layeth the
beams of His chambers in the waters " rather well, the passage about the
shepherd sailing along on fortune's favouring gale fitting in happily enough to
the words " and walketh on the wings of the wind." But "Dove sei" loses
all its point by being canonised. The tortured passion, wild with all regret,
of the original is completely smothered under the black coat and white tie of
its Pecksniffian caricature.
i6
242 HANDEL
dramatic interest of the work is largely sacrificed to the
necessity of keeping the balance even between her and
Cuzzoni. In Rodelinda and Scipio there are important
tenor parts, but English amateurs just then would listen
to nobody but the two prima donnas and their favourite
castrati, so Handel had to bow to public opinion. There
is an unimportant tenor part in Alessandro, but the rest
of his Academy operas are written only for sopranos and
contraltos, save for the thundering Boschi, whose popularity
seems to have defied the dictates of fashion.
With Admeto we are once more in the presence of a
masterpiece. The libretto is founded upon the world-
renowned legend of Alcestis, which is treated with some
skill, though the inevitable underplot is rather tiresome.
Handel rose magnificently to the occasion, and his music
is fully worthy of the noble story. Alcestis is one of his
finest creations, and the sublime passion of her self-sacrifice
is well contrasted with the light-hearted frivolity of
Antigona, a youthful shepherdess, with whom Admetus
consoles himself directly Alcestis has disappeared from
the scene. Hercules is a splendid figure, and the selfish
amorist Admetus is very happily drawn. The super-
natural part of the opera is exceedingly impressive. The
overture to the second act, which describes the gloomy
horrors of the infernal regions, is a wonderful piece of
tone-painting ; and the opening scene, in which the dying
Admetus is tormented by the Furies who gather round
his couch, is no less striking than the corresponding scene
in Gluck's IpJiigeriia m Taiiris.
No more unfounded charge was ever laid at Handel's
door than that his operas are all alike. On the contrary,
no one ever appreciated more fully the value of contrast.
Riccardo is as different from Admeto as possible. It
THE OPERAS 243
rings with the noise of battle ; it is all martial ardour and
patriotism. Dramatically it is not specially interesting,
but it is full of interesting points, particularly as regards
the orchestration. The elaborate storm-scene with which
it opens is a very remarkable piece of writing for the time,
and throughout the work there are signs of curious re-
search in the choice of instruments. Some of the war-
like songs have very spirited and effective parts for horns
and trumpets. In a lovely arioso in which a despairing
lover prays for death there is an obbligato for the bass
flute, a " bird-song " sung by Cuzzoni has an elaborate
and graceful part for a piccolo, and the charming pastoral
air, " Quando non vede la cara madre," is quaintly accom-
panied by two "chalumeaux," a primitive species of
clarinet. Siroe is on the whole rather disappointing, and
gives the impression of having been written in haste.
The Persian background tempted Handel to no experi-
ments in orchestral colour, such as he had recently at-
tempted, but there are some splendid songs in the opera.
" Gelido in ogni vena " is a thrilling picture of guilty
terror, and the monologue of the imprisoned Siroe is at
least as fine as the corresponding scene in Rodelinda.
Tolonieo^ the last opera written by Handel for the
Royal Academy, bears, no less plainly than Siroe, traces
of the untoward circumstances in which it was composed.
Yet it contains many charming songs, such as the lovely
" Fonte amiche," through which the breezes sigh and the
waters murmur in such adorable concert, and the famous
Echo song, " Dite che fa," in which Cuzzoni and Senesino
scored a notable success. The great dramatic moment
of the piece is the scene in which Tolomeo drinks what
he believes to be poison, and sinks gradually into a
lethargic slumber. This scene is in Handel's finest
244 HANDEL
manner. It opens with a noble recitative, and the air
that follows, " Stille amare," is one of the most expressive
he ever wrote. The ebbing tide of life is pictured with
marvellous skill and beauty, and the use of a tremolando
effect in the violins gives a curious touch of realism to the
scene.
The collapse of the Royal Academy and Handel's
start in management upon his own account opened a new
period in the development of his operatic style. It is not
easy to say how far the fact that he had a different
company of singers to compose for gave a fresh bent to
his genius, or how far the company was chosen to suit
the new style which he now adopted, but at any rate the
difference in manner between the old Academy operas
and those that he now produced is strikingly marked.
Lotario, the first opera produced under the new regime, is
not specially significant, but in Partenope the change of
style is unmistakable.
Handel's recent tour in Italy had introduced him to
many of the rising stars in the world of opera, such as
Vinci and Hasse, and in Pai'tenope their influence upon
him can easily be traced in many of the airs. In general
structure, too, Parte?iope is curiously different from its
predecessors. The big ah's de parade, which are so
prominent a feature of Handel's earlier operas when he
was still mainly under the influence of Scarlatti, have to a
great extent disappeared. In their place we find briefer
and more dramatic movement of the arioso type, and
variety is given to the action by frequent concerted pieces.
Partenope boasts a trio and a quartet, and no fewer than
four choruses, and there are numerous symphonic move-
ments which form a welcome relief to the purely vocal
numbers.
THE OPERAS 245
Neither Lotario nor Partenope is particularly interest-
ing as a drama, but both are crisp and vigorous in move-
ment, and contain some capital characterisation. Lotario
is a warlike story with the usual allowance of haughty
tyrants and imprisoned damsels. The martial music is
all very spirited and vigorous, but the best characters in
the work are the hopeless lover Idelberto, who has some
charming sentimental ditties, including the famous " Per
salvarti," and his very bloodthirsty mother Matilde, a
lady of truly Spartan fortitude, who ^oes through life
with a drawn sword in her hand, ready to kill anything
and anybody on the smallest provocation.
Partenope is lighter in character. It has of course a
certain amount of fighting — few Handelian operas are
altogether peaceable — but it is chiefly concerned with the
quarrels and intrigues of three suitors for the hand of
Partenope, the young Queen of Naples, and the efforts
of Rosmira, a princess whom Arsace has thrown over for
the sake of Partenope, to regain the affections of her
faithless lover. Rosmira is a very high-spirited young
lady, and, not content with disguising herself in male
attire, goes so far as to challenge Arsace to mortal combat.
The jealous fury of Rosmira is well contrasted with the
light-hearted gaiety of Partenope, one of whose songs is
the well-known " Qual farfalletta " ; but the best songs fall
to the share of Arsace, who is a distinctly variable person,
and ranges between transports of rage, as in " Furibondo
spira il vento," and depths of woe, as in the lovely " Ch'io
parta," and the still more beautiful slumber-song, " Ma
quai note," accompanied by flutes, muted strings and
theorbo.
Poro follows much the same lines as Partenope,
though the reappearance of Senesino in the company
246 HANDEL
tempted Handel to return to some extent to the richer
and more grandiose manner of his Academy days, at any
rate in the songs allotted to the great castrato. Poro is in
one respect somewhat disappointing, as there is little
attempt in the orchestra at suggesting the Oriental colour
of the background, though Handel had already made
interesting experiments of this kind in his earlier works.
In other respects Poro is fully up to the average Handelian
standard. Many of the airs are intrinsically delightful, such
as the pretty pastoral, " Son confusa pastorella," and the
great dramatic moments of the piece are treated superbly.
The death-song of the Indian queen is wonderfully
beautiful, and the fact that it is written upon a ground-
bass makes one wonder if Handel can possibly have
made the acquaintance of Purcell's Dido and Apneas.
One of the most striking and original things in Poro is an
ironical duet between two jealous lovers, who in bitterness
of heart quote passages from the love-songs that each
has sung to the other earlier in the opera.
Eaio presents no very special claim to the attention
of modern students. The plot is one of those inter-
minable palace intrigues, in which every one seems to
be conspiring against every one else at the same time
in the most bewildering fashion. The music is no better
and no worse than that of many other Handelian operas,
but it is worth noting that the three bass songs, " Se
un beir ardire" (better known in England as "Droop
not, young lover"), " Nasce al bosco," and " Gia risuonar
d'intorno," are still favourites with our latter-day singers.
They were written for Montagnana, who made his first ap-
pearance under Handel's banner in Ezio. Montagnana
was a singer of uncommon accomplishment, who seems,
to judge from the music that Handel wrote for him,
THE OPERAS 247
to have had an unusual accuracy of intonation in
hitting distant intervals.
Sosarme is another of Handel's less important operas.
The libretto deals in the received eighteenth-century manner
with a number of amiable and abnormally credulous people,
who are set at loggerheads by the purposeless malignity
of a particularly double-dyed scoundrel. There are no
dramatic situations worthy of the name, but Handel,
as usual, contrived to make the most of every scene that
had a spark of human emotion in it. There is a very fine
aria paiiante, " Cuor di madre," for a mother distracted
by the emotions caused by the conflict of her husband
and her son ; and the villain of the piece has a wonderful
song, " Fra I'ombre," which seems to be enveloped in a
weird atmosphere of guilt and horror. Still familiar to
modern ears is the tranquil loveliness of " Rendi il sereno
al ciglio," in which a devoted daughter soothes a mother's
anguish, even as Manrico calms the raving Azucena in
// Trovatore.
Orlando is in every respect a finer work than its
immediate predecessors. After the arid intrigues of Ezio
and Sosarme, Handel must have been enraptured to find
himself once more in the wonder-world of romance
painted by the Italian poets of the Renaissance. He
rose to his subject in characteristic style. Orlando is not,
perhaps, particularly strong as regards plot, but there
is a romantic charm about the story which fully atones
for occasional weaknesses of structure. The savage
figure of Orlando, whose hopeless passion for Angelica
has turned his brain, stands out in striking relief against
the graceful background of the shepherd life into which
he bursts like a whirlwind. Very imposing, too, is the
figure of Zoroaster, the magician who eventually restores
248 HANDEL
Orlando to sanity. The opening scene, in which Zoroaster,
posted on a lonely mountain summit, invokes the aid of
the silent stars, strikes a note of wild grandeur that
echoes throughout the work. But the great moment of
the piece is Orlando's mad scene, a passage of such
concentrated force of imagination and such extraordinary
inventive skill that by its side all the operatic frenzies
of our modern Elviras and Lucias seem the most pitiful
buffoonery. The details of the scene are worth careful
study. The use of | time is probably unprecedented
in the history of music, and the contrast between the
solemn passage on a ground-bass and the wild ravings
of the peroration is extraordinarily fine. Writing half
a century later, Burney still viewed the audacious in-
novations of this scene with grave suspicion. What the
audiences of Handel's time thought of it, and of the
opera as a whole, may be gathered from the fact that the
production of Orlando was the signal for the foundation
of the rival enterprise at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and that
Senesino, who had certainly never in his career had music
of such power and originality put unto his mouth, at
once severed his connection with Handel, and went over
to the enemy.
But the mad scene by no means monopolises the
interest of Orlando. The opera is full of fine things.
The scene in which Orlando, exhausted by his frenzy,
sinks to sleep to the accompaniment of two violette marine
— probably a kind of viola d'amore — is another masterly
page. Zoroaster's three airs, " Lascia amor," " Tra caligini
profonde," and " Sorge infausta una procella," are all
magnificent, and, to our credit be it said, are still occasion-
ally to be heard in our concert-rooms. The much-tried
Angelica, when not being chased by her mad lover, has
THE OPERAS 249
some exquisite songs, Handel never surpassed the wood-
land magic of "Verdi piante," through which the voice
of the forest murmurs in such divinely soothing harmony,
and he gave the shepherd lovers some of the most
delicious pastoral music he ever wrote.
Ariadne, though one of the most popular of Handel's
operas with contemporary audiences, is far from being
among his best works. It may be regarded as in some
sort an apology for Orlando. In those days the English
public was just as impervious to new impressions as it
is nowadays — it never could have been more so — and
there can be little doubt that the freshness and originality
of Orlando repelled the average opera-goer as surely as
any attempt to enlarge the boundaries of music repels
our apathetic public to-day. Ariadne was a concession to
the conservatives. Handel, too, was doubtless anxious
that his new primo noma, Carestini, who made his debut
in Ariadne, should win the suffrages of his patrons, and
he gave him an unusually large number of commonplace
showy songs, by the aid of which he found no difficulty
in singing himself into general favour. Nevertheless
Ariadne has its fine moments. The scene of Theseus's
dream is effectively handled, and his combat with the
Minotaur is very spirited.
The most famous thing in the work, however, is the
minuet which is played at the opening of the first act,
while Theseus is disembarking from his galley with the
bevy of Athenian youths and maidens destined for the
jaws of the Minotaur. This piece enjoyed enormous
popularity throughout the eighteenth century. Its fate
foreshadowed that of the Cavalleria intermezzo in our
own day. It was transcribed for the harpsichord, arranged
for the violin, and even metamorphosed into a song.
2 50 HANDEL
Long after Handel's death it retained its vogue. The
cultivated reader will not need to be reminded that in
She Stoops to Conquer the performing bear, which " danced
only to the genteelest of tunes," manifested a special
predilection for its ravishing strains, and that so late
as 1 78 1 the fair Tilburin^ in Sheridan's Critic trod the
ramparts of Tilbury " inconsolable to the minuet in
Ariadne y
Handel's move to Covent Garden marks the opening
of what may be called his third operatic period. At this
epoch in his career he was hard put to it by the competi-
tion of the " Opera of the Nobility " in the Haymarket,
and he left no stone unturned in the struggle to defeat
his rivals. The distinguishing feature of his Covent
Garden operas — the earlier ones, at any rate — is the
increased importance assigned to the chorus and the
introduction of dancing, which had figured but rarely in
his previous operas.
Ariodante, the first of the Covent Garden operas, is
particularly rich in dance music, each act terminating
with an elaborate ballet, of which Mile. Salle, the French
dancer, was the bright, particular star. In Ariodante
Handel turned once more to his favourite Tasso, and
produced a work which in grace and romantic charm
yields to few of his operas. The plot is closely akin to
that of Much Ado about Nothing. Polinesso, the villainous
Duke of Albany, has been refused by Ginevra, the
daughter of the King of Scotland, who loves Ariodante.
In revenge he persuades Ginevra's confidante Dalinda
to disguise herself in Ginevra's garments and to open
a private door in the palace to him one night when
Ariodante is wandering in the garden beneath his
mistress's window. The plot succeeds. Ariodante, who
THE OPERAS 251
has been a witness of what he believes to be Ginevra's
perfidy, will have nothing more to say to her, Polinesso,
however, overreaches himself. To close Dalinda's mouth,
he plots to have her murdered. Ariodante saves her
life, and in remorse she confesses her share of the plot
against his happiness. The music, though not in
Handel's grandest and most dramatic vein, is full of
charming little vignettes, such as the garden scene in
the first act, in which Ariodante breathes his passion
in strains of the most voluptuous tenderness, and the
wonderful orchestral picture of the rising moon at the
opening of the second act. The dances are delightfully
gay and sparkling, and the little pastoral symphony is
a gem of the first water.
Alcina is another and even more successful experi-
ment in the same style. The libretto, which is taken
from Ariosto, has a good deal in common with those of
Rinaldo and Aniadigi. Ruggiero, a Christian knight,
has fallen into the amorous clutches of Alcina, a Circe-
like sorceress, who has so bewildered his mind with her
spells that when Bradamante, his plighted bride, appears
on the scene to rescue him he shows a pronounced
disinclination to leave his voluptuous bondage. He is
brought to his senses by means of a magic ring, and he
and Bradamante make their escape after breaking the
urn on which Alcina's power depends, and reducing her
palace and enchanted gardens to a dreary wilderness.
Alcina has not perhaps the dramatic force of some of
Handel's earlier works, but for sheer musical beauty it
is without a rival, and the character-drawing is often
curiously subtle. The opening scene in Alcina's palace,
with its alternation of chorus and dance, is one of capti-
vating loveliness, often foreshadowing very interestingly
252 HANDEL
the style of Gluck, who may well have known Alcina and
borne it in mind when he wrote his Armida. Alcina is
one of Handel's most carefully studied characters. When
she discovers Ruggiero's faithlessness she has a wonderful
song, " Ah, mio cor," similar in feeling to Armida's *' Ah,
crudel " in Rinaldo, and to Melissa's " Ah, spietato " in
Aniadigi, in which she struggles with the conflicting
emotions of grief and anger. To this succeeds a very
striking incantation scene, in which she summons her
minion spirits to assist her. Later her mood changes,
and a lovely air, " Mi restano le lagrime," paints the
anguish of her wounded heart in the most moving colours.
Ruggiero is finely drawn also. His air, " Verdi prati,"
is well known in concert rooms, but apart from its context
it loses all its psychological force. It is the knight's
farewell to the enchanted splendour of Alcina's garden,
and Handel, with his unrivalled knowledge of the human
heart, has contrived to suggest a touch of that regret,
which, so long as men are what they are, can hardly fail
to make itself felt at such a time. Those who measure
the works of earlier days by the suggestion of modernity
that they exhibit, should compare Handel's treatment
of the scene with Goethe's poem Rinaldo, in which the
same idea is elaborated with truly Goethesque subtlety.
Atalanta was a piece d' occasion, written in honour of
the marriage of the Prince of Wales. It is appropriately
brilliant and festive in character, and makes no pretence
to dramatic interest, but it is nevertheless one of Handel's
most charming operas, with its choruses of nymphs and
shepherds, and its indescribable atmosphere of light-
hearted gaiety and out-of-door freshness. Handel's
later operas are hardly upon the same level as their
predecessors. Ill-health and money troubles weighed
THE OPERAS 253
heavily upon his spirits, and left their mark upon his
music. Yet, though weak places occur in his last half-
dozen operas, there is not one of them that does not
contain beauties of a high order. In Giustino there is
the romantic apparition of Fortune and a delightful
sailors' chorus, which may possibly have been the model
for Mozart's " Placido e il mar" in Idomeneo. Arminio
is a return to the old heroic manner, and many of the
scenes are poignantly dramatic. Arminio's great recita-
tive, " Fier teatro di morte," and the noble air, " Vado a
morir," are as fine as anything in Radamisto, but for the
most part Handel seems at this time to have preferred
h'ghter subjects. Berenice and Farainondo cannot be
ranked high among the operas, though the minuet in
the former is one of Handel's immortal tunes, and the
latter has a very curious and successful experiment in
realism in the song, " Voglio che sia," in which the hero,
halting between two opinions, breaks off suddenly in
the midst of his meditations, while the orchestra expresses
his uncertainty in a passage of striking originality, which
Handel a few years later worked up into a fine air in
Hercules, dealing with a somewhat similar psychological
situation.
Serse is Handel's one excursion into comic opera.
It is a bustling little work, possibly founded upon a
Spanish comedy of intrigue, in which only the names
of the characters have anything to do with the classical
world. Serse is now known chiefly as containing the
beautiful air, " Ombra mai fu," which in its modern
orchestral arrangement as "the celebrated Largo" is
perhaps more popular than anything Handel ever wrote,
but some of the lighter music is capital of its kind.
There is a charming little song sung by the inevit-
254 HANDEL
able comic servant disguised as a flower-seller, which
seems to be founded upon the street cries of the period.
It is worth remarking that Handel is known to have
taken a great interest in street cries. Lady Luxborough
wrote to Shenstone the poet : " The great Handel has
told me that the hints of his very best songs have several
of them been owing to the sounds in his ears of cries in
the streets." ^ An autograph note of his hastily jotted down
on a loose sheet of paper together with the addresses of
friends and other memoranda has preserved to us the cry
of an itinerant match-seller : —
^4 I h-
W — =?2:
Buoy a - ny match - es, my match - es buoy.
At the top of the page is written : " John Shaw, near
a brandy shop, St. Giles's in the Tyburn Road, sells
matches about." This interesting fragment is now in
the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge.
In Imetteo there is little to detain us, but Deidamia,
Handel's last opera, contains some beautiful music. It
is peculiar in having two important bass parts, to which
many of the finest songs are assigned. The beautiful
" Nel riposo " is one of those airs, like " Tears, such as
tender fathers shed," in Deborah, and " How willing my
paternal love," in Samson, in which Handel paints a
picture of ripe and tender old age that no changes
of time and fashion can cause to fade. In a very
different vein is the bright and spirited hunting
chorus, but Deidaniia is full of good things, and had
it appeared at a more favourable time and with a
^ Luxborough Correspondence, 1775, P- S^'
THE OPERAS 255
stronger cast, it would have been one of Handel's most
successful works. As it was, the public was tired of
opera for the time being, and Handel was compelled to
submit to the inevitable. With what feelings he did so
we cannot tell, FitzGerald, who did not like oratorios,
believed him reluctant. "Handel," he wrote, "was a
good old Pagan at heart, and (till he had to yield to
the fashionable Piety of England) stuck to Opera and
Cantatas, such as Acis and Galatea, Milton's Fenseroso,
Alexander s Feast, etc., where he could revel and plunge
and frolic without being tied down to Orthodoxy. And
these are (to my mind) his really great works : these and
his Coronation Anthems, where Human Pomp is to be
accompanied and illustrated." That Handel was a
thoroughgoing pagan I readily agree, but even pagans
cannot endure misunderstanding, opposition and con-
tempt for ever, and I cannot but think that it was with
a sigh of relief that Handel turned his back upon the
stage and devoted himself to the composition of the
oratorios that were destined to bring him a wider and
more enduring fame than the fickle world of the theatre
could give.
CHAPTER XVI
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS
IT has been said by those whose aim is to belittle
Handel and his works, that he did nothing to
advance the development of music, that he initiated no
new forms, but was content to work upon the lines
already laid down by his predecessors. It is true that
there was little of the revolutionary about Handel, and
that for the most part he was content to carry existing
forms to the highest possible point of beauty and per-
fection without embarking upon uncharted oceans of
discovery, yet the charge of his traducers falls to the
ground if we consider, to take but one instance, the work
that he did in the development of oratorio. This alone
gives him a right to rank among the greatest of those to
whom we owe the modern forms of music.
Handel's oratorio style was the product of many
mingled elements. Germany, Italy, and England all
had a hand in its formation. When Handel reached
Florence in 1706 he had little to learn from Italian
composers as regards church music pure and simple.
Very few authentic works of his Halle and Hamburg days
have survived to our time. The early oratorios written
under Zachow's influence are not now accepted as
Handel's, and of late grave doubt has been cast upon the
256
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 257
authenticity of the little St. John Passion music. But
the Dixit Doniinus which Handel wrote at Rome in April
1707 is quite enough in itself to show how completely he
had assimilated the best traditions of German ecclesi-
astical music, Mr. E. J. Dent, the biographer of Scarlatti,
admits indeed that in some ways it is stronger than
anything of Scarlatti's in that line. The vocal writing
is sometimes clumsy and inelegant, but the rich harmonic
foundation upon which the whole thing is built is typically
German in its breadth and solidity. Finer still are the
Laudate pueri and Nisi Dominus, which date from the
same period. The latter contains a particularly imposing
Gloria, which was independently performed at the Handel
Festival of 1891 and astonished every one by the
vigorous maturity of its style. But Handel's studies in
church music availed him' little in the oratorios which he
was called upon to write during his sojourn in Rome. In
order to realise the position of oratorio in the world of
music at that time it will be necessary to turn for a
moment to the earlier history of the form.
Born almost contemporaneously with opera at the very
beginning of the seventeenth century, oratorio was in its
earliest form almost indistinguishable, save in subject, from
its sister art-form. The rudimentary oratorios of Emilio
del Cavalieri differ but slightly from the operas of Peri
and his fellows. There is the same dull waste of recitative,
broken by no oasis of melody, the same slight thin little
choruses, the same tinkling accompaniment. Carissimi
first led oratorio upon paths peculiar to itself. He gave
breadth and dignity to the choruses, and character to the
recitatives and airs. More important still for the future
of the art, he abjured the more specifically dramatic
effects which oratorio had hitherto shared with opera, and
17
2 5 8 HANDEL
invested all his works with an atmosphere of epic grandeur
and sublimity, which more than aught else differentiated
them from works written avowedly for stage representa-
tion. The death of Carissimi in 1674 left oratorio
apparently established upon a firm basis, but his influence
was not strong enough to overrule the pronounced lean-
ing of the Italian genius towards drama in preference to
epic, and in the hands of his successors, notably those
of Alessandro Scarlatti, oratorio soon began to lose its
characteristic outline, and to approach more and more
closely to the confines of opera. Rome in the seventeenth
century was as definitely the home of oratorio, as Venice
was that of opera. Carissimi wrote his oratorios for the
Oratory of San Marcello, and it was at Rome that his
influence should have been strongest, but the fates were
against him, and the Popes themselves unconsciously
threw their influence into the opposite scale.
In 1667 died Clement IX, a man of artistic tastes,
beneath whose amiable rule music of all kinds flourished
like a green bay-tree. Innocent XI, who succeeded him,
was cast in a different mould. He was a stern dis-
ciplinarian, and had no sympathy for the arts. He seems
to have been particularly hard upon theatres. First he
forbade actresses to wear low-cut dresses, and actually
sent his sbirri to confiscate their short-sleeved garments.
Finally he banished women from the stage altogether.
His successor, Innocent Xll, who ascended the papal
throne in 1691, went still farther. In 1697 he closed the
Teatro di Tordinona, and thus practically suppressed
opera altogether. Artistic Rome was in despair. Cardinals
wrung their hands, and the Arcadian Academy filled the
air with lamentation. But opera, expelled by the papal
fork, came back in a new disguise. In the Oratory of
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 259
San Marcello, the home of oratorio, she found a resting-
place for the sole of her foot. A change came over the
spirit of the place. Already the music of the oratorios
there performed had contrived to secularize itself amazingly
since the days of the severe Carissimi. Now the words
also were to know the touch of worldliness. It is true
that the performances were still in Latin, but to the
literati, exiled from their favourite theatre, who took
refuge in the oratory, Latin was a mother-tongue. Their
influence made itself felt, and ere long the oratorios were
nothing but operas in disguise. The characters were
sacred, but their emotions and the language in which they
expressed them were as secular as even a seventeenth-
century Cardinal could desire. Protoparentuni Crimen
et Poena, an oratorio on the subject of the Fall, is
practically one long love-duet for Adam and Eve, and
the fact that Tamar, Dinah, Susanna, and Bathsheba were
the heroines of a few other oratorios produced at this
time gives a good idea of the kind of subject which was
popular among the cultivated circles in Rome.
X This was the state in which oratorio was languishing
when Handel came to Rome in 1707. It is no wonder
that a stripling of two-and-twenty fell in with the prevail-
ing taste, and wrote what he knew would find favour with
his wealthy patrons. Not that there is anything distasteful
in the libretto of La Resurrezione, but in spite of its
subject the thing is opera pure and simple. There are only
two choruses, both very slight in structure. All the rest
of the work is given to the soloists. La Resurrezione is
divided into two portions. The first takes place during
the night preceding Easter Day. Lucifer is discovered
exulting over the death of Christ, but an angel warns him
that his triumph is to be shortlived. Two of the holy
26o HANDEL
women then appear, lamenting their dead Lord, and
St. John cheers them with the hope of His Resurrection.
The scene of the second part is laid in the garden of
Arimathea, but the actual incidents of the Resurrection
are not described. Christ is not introduced in person,
and the story of His appearance is narrated by Mary
Magdalene. The most striking figure in La Resiwrezione
is Lucifer, whose music has many characteristically
vigorous touches. There is a suggestion of grisly horror
in his invocation to the powers below, " O voi dell' Erebo "
— the one air in the oratorio that is known to modern
audiences — and the rushing divisions and giant intervals
for the voice give an impression of concentrated fury,
while the \ox\g glissando scale-passages for the violins have
an eerie effect which the composer was to win by the
same means a few years later in the incantation scene
in Teseo. A proof of the close neighbourhood in which
opera and oratorio dwelt in those days is furnished by
the fact that Handel transferred a good deal of the
Resurrezione music to Agrippina a year later. Lucifer's
air already mentioned appeared in Agrippina in a sort of
drawing-room edition as an amiable ditty about constancy
being charmed by the placid ray of hope. A graceful little
song expressing Mary Magdalene's joy in her Saviour's
resurrection was put into the mouth of the triumphant
Agrippina without any alteration whatever. Such strange
transpositions were not at all uncommon in the eighteenth
century, and indicated no unusual levity on the part of the
composer. Many of the most edifying numbers in Bach's
Christmas Oratorio were taken from his own secular
cantatas. The lovely cradle-song of the Blessed Virgin, for
instance, had an earlier existence as a song of seduction
sung by the siren Pleasure to the youthful Hercules.
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 261
Handel's second Italian oratorio, // Trionfo del Tempo
e del Disi)iganno, is not perhaps intrinsically more attract-
ive than La Resurj-ezione, but it has a special interest for
the student as being the germ of the composer's latest
work, The TrmmpJi of Time and Truth. Originally written
in 1708, it was revised for performance in England in
1737, still in its Italian form, and in 1757 it was translated,
revised and enlarged, and finally performed in its familiar
English form. In the main lines of its musical structure
it resembles La Resurrezione, though its frigid allegorical
libretto gives even fewer opportunities for dramatic effect,
and there are sundry differences in detail between the
two works. // Trionfo contains no choruses at all, only
a few ensemble numbers for the solo voices. There is
much less instrumental obbligato work in // Trionfo than
in La Resurrezione, but on the other hand the orchestra
plays a more important part. Handel's Neapolitan
serenata, Act, Galatea e Polifenw, is far slighter in construc-
tion. It has some pretty orchestral effects, as, for example,
in the obbligati to a bird-song, and a duet for two violon-
celli, but its chief musical interest lies in the beautiful
song of the dying Acis and in the suggestions of humour
that adorn the part of Polyphemus.
When Handel came to England in 1710, he thus had
at his command two perfectly distinct styles, which he
had not till then had occasion to blend, the German style
of his church music — softened to some extent and rendered
less angular by contact with Scarlatti and other Italian
musicians, but remaining practically the art that he learnt
at the feet of Zachow in Halle — and his operatic style
which was almost purely Italian, though traces of Reiser's
influence and the fashions that moulded Alinira could
still be traced in it. In England a third influence was
262 HANDEL
soon brought to bear upon him. His visits during his
first stay in England to St. Paul's Cathedral, where
Maurice Greene officiated as his organ-blower, introduced
him to Purcell and the English school of church musicians.
English church music was something very different from
anything Handel had ever heard before, and it could not
but exercise a decided influence upon his plastic genius.
The Ode for Queeji Anne's Birthday (171 3), the first
choral work written by Handel upon English soil, shows
this influence in a marked and unmistakable manner.
It opens with a curiously Purcellian recitative, and
throughout the work, particularly in the duet upon a
ground-bass, there are continual reminders of Purcell's
style. In the Utrecht Te Deum and J7ibilate, which
followed close upon the Birthday Ode, English influences
are also to be traced, but less markedly. Chrysander has
pointed out how closely Handel followed the general
design of Purcell's Te Dewn, which he undoubtedly heard
at the Festivals of the Sons of the Clergy, especially as
regards the alternation of chorus and solos. That is
true, but there is comparatively little that is distinctively
Purcellian in the music itself. Handel's mighty strength
of wing had already left Purcell far behind. His broadly
developed choruses owe little, if anything, to Purcell's
short scrappy movements. In the solo numbers the
influence of Purcell is felt more strongly. The duet,
" Vouchsafe, O Lord," and the alto solo, " When Thou
tookest upon Thee," would certainly never have been
written in anything like their present form but for
Handel's visits to St. Paul's.
X In the Brockes Passion^ which Handel wrote in 17 16,
there is a return to the German style of his youth. The
work follows in its general lines the accepted formula for
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 263
Passion music as already adopted by Keiser and other
composers, the sacred narrative, here presented not in the
words of the Bible but in doggerel verse, being inter-
spersed with dramatic choruses, reflective solos and
chorales very much as we find it in Bach's familiar
settings of the Passion story. It ought to be much more
interesting than it actually is to set Bach and Handel
side by side and to compare their respective treatments
of the same theme. As a matter of fact the comparison
is fruitless simply because the two men were what they
were. To Bach, with his profoundly moral view of life
and the pietistic Lutheranism that ran in his blood, the
curious medley that German taste had made of the story of
the Passion appealed with irresistible force. But Handel's
artistic sensibilities were outraged by the sentimental
moralisings with which the subject was overlaid, and by
the aggressive didacticism that often obscured the simple
majesty of the Biblical story. The frigid extravagances
of Brockes's poem chilled the current of his inspiration.
The truth is that his long absence from Germany had
thrown him out of touch with his countrymen's view of
religion. Italian culture and English Laodiceanism had
given him a fresh point of view, and he could not fall
back into the groove of his childhood's belief If his
Brockes Passion is one of the least satisfactory of his
works, it is from no failure in musicianship — for it con-
tains many vigorous passages, and at least one scene, that
of Christ's agony in the garden, of deep and moving
beauty — but because it gives throughout the impression
of a man working with uncongenial material. If Handel
wished to prove that he could pit himself successfully
against his old rival Keiser he won his case, for his
Passion seems to have been popular in Germany, but he
264 HANDEL
did not repeat the experiment, and the Brockes Passion
was the last work in which he set his mother tongue to
music.
Handel's excursion into the realms of German music
did not retard the development of his English style.
Soon after his return to England he entered the service
of the Duke of Chandos, and during the next few years
produced the famous series of anthems universally known
by the name of his princely patron. Anthems in the
ordinary sense of the word the Chandos anthems em-
phatically are not. With their imposing chain of
choruses and solos, their elaborate overtures and full
orchestral accompaniment, they have really more in
common with the church cantatas which Bach was pour-
ing forth in such profusion at the same time. But here,
as in the case of the Passion music, the superficial
resemblance in form only makes the essential difference
in feeling between the two composers the more striking.
No two men ever envisaged sacred things with a more
profound diversity of view. The burning sincerity of
Bach's genius and his deeply religious nature animate
every note of his cantatas. The story of Haydn offering
up a prayer before beginning to compose may be per-
fectly true of Haydn, but it would be much truer of Bach.
The production of sacred music was to him an act of
adoration, whereas to Handel it was merely an artistic
exercise. Bach's cantatas breathe the inmost secrets of
his pious heart. Handel's anthems are the brilliant
improvisations of an accomplished artist. While Bach is
on his knees in the Holy of Holies, Handel is leading a
gaily robed procession through the echoing aisles of the
church. To modern taste, and indeed to all taste that
values the spirit rather than the body, the end rather than
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 265
the means, Bach's sacred music must rank far above
Handel's, but it is only fair when we are comparing the
two composers to look upon the other side of the picture,
and to remember that though Bach is without a rival in
his own organ-loft he never strayed from it, whereas
Handel's range of thought was boundless, and he was as
superior to Bach in secular music as Bach was to him
in sacred. Handel's church music was enthusiastically
admired and extravagantly praised during his lifetime,
but changes of fashion, which operate as drastically in
the religious world as in the secular, have estranged
public sympathy from this particular side of his activity.
The pomp and glitter of many of the anthems, their
ease of movement and their affluent inspiration, still
compel admiration, but they possess few of those qualities
for which we now value Handel. Every age reads its
own meaning in an artist and his work, and it is Handel's
soaring imagination and his sympathy with every phase
of human feeling that now enchain us. The eighteenth
century admired him for very different reasons, and the
works that they most appreciated leave us comparatively
cold. The conventional jubilations of the Psalms offered
Handel but little opportunity for the exercise of his
peculiar talents. His setting of such anthems as the
well-known " O praise the Lord with one consent," and
" O come, let us sing unto the Lord " — the only two of the
series that are ever publicly performed at the present time
— make no pretension to that imaginative power which
illuminates the oratorios. They are vigorous, straight-
forward and effective, but Handel's keenest admirer can
hardly say more for them than that. In some of the other
anthems, which it is almost impossible to perform
nowadays owing to Handel's employment of counter-
266 HANDEL
tenors in the choruses in place of contraltos and tenors,
there are occasional passages which give a foretaste of
what he was later to accomplish in his oratorios. In
" The Lord is my light" there is a splendid sea-piece, " It
is the Lord that ruleth the sea," which was afterwards
elaborated into the great chorus in Isi-ael in Egypt " But
the waters overwhelmed them," and, finer still, a wonder-
ful thunder and lightning chorus, a rough sketch for the
great chorus in Joshua. Perhaps the noblest of the
Chandos anthems is " Let God arise," with its impressive
opening chorus, in which the scattered enemies flee in all
directions in the most realistic manner, and its very-
poetical setting of the words, " Like as the smoke
vanisheth." In a tenderer vein is the beautiful " As pants
the hart," an anthem of which, as of many of the others,
several versions exist, the alterations and revisions being
due partly to changes in the Canons choir, and partly to
the necessity of adapting them to the less elaborate choir
of the Chapel Royal. Three Te Deums — the third a free
adaptation of the second — also date approximately from
Handel's Chandos period. They are grandiose and
sonorous works in the " big bow-wow " manner that was
so much admired by his contemporaries, but now seems a
trifle too much bewigged and beruffled for modern taste.
That in B flat is the most elaborate and is usually con-
sidered the finest, but all three are works of uncommon
dignity and grandeur of style. They express the pomp
and circumstance of religion rather than its holiest
and most sacred raptures, but, like the anthems, they
compel admiration by the consummate ease and fluency
of their technique, and they furnish a triumphant proof
of Handel's superb mastery of his material.
But even the bright array of Chandos anthems fades
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 267
into insignificance by the side of the two great works
which Handel produced while an inmate of Canons, EstJier
and Acis and Galatea. Esther, the first oratorio ever
written to English words, is all-important in the history
of Handel's artistic development. Like many other art-
forms, English oratorio owed its birth to what may be
called a happy accident. We know nothing of the circum-
stances that led to the composition of Esther, but there
can be little or no doubt that it was intended for stage
performance. It was originally described as a masque,
and was performed with scenery and action when revived
in 1732 by the children of the Chapel Royal. Only the
prohibition of Bishop Gibson prevented Handel from
giving it as a drama on the stage of the King's Theatre.
Thus Esther, though rightly called an oratorio in the
modern sense of the word as being the harbinger of
the mighty succession of masterpieces that Handel was
subsequently to produce in this form, is in itself a hybrid
work, tracing its descent to Greek tragedy through
Racine's drama, of which it is a free adaptation. Racine
avowedly followed Greek methods, seeking to establish
a due balance between chorus and principals, and Pope,
if the libretto of Esther was actually his handiwork,
reduced the drama to a minimum and gave additional
importance to the chorus, unconsciously accentuating the
epic element which was eventually to distinguish oratorio
from drama, Esther can hardly have been very effective
as a drama owing to the preponderance of the choral
element, and its real value probably only became apparent
when it was performed as an oratorio. It is, naturally
enough, somewhat tentative in style, and the fact that
Handel used a good deal of his Passion music in its
composition, sometimes in a rather indiscriminate manner,
268 HANDEL
tends to blunt the sharpness of the characterisation. But
though as a whole Esther is a work of more promise than
actual performance, it is rich in the seeds of what was
afterwards to develop into the grand manner of Handel's
later days. The overture has always been a favourite, and it
is valuable, apart from its sheer musical value, as a rejoinder
to the often repeated accusation that Handel's overtures
have nothing to do with the works that they precede.
In this respect, indeed, Handel was far in advance of his
age. The Esther overture has an obvious connection with
the unfolding of the drama. The first movement, closely
allied as it is in rhythm to Haman's first song, plainly
portrays the arrogance of the tyrant ; the second movement
is no less obviously a picture of the Jewish exiles' grief
and despair, while the note of triumph sounds clearly in
the final fugue. As to the oratorio itself, its strength
most emphatically does not lie in its solos, though it is
surprising how well some of them fit the situation,
considering to what very different words they were
originally written, and what very different emotions the
music was intended to illustrate. Thus Ahasuerus's
graceful love-song was originally a lament sung by a
believer over his crucified Saviour, and the duet in which
Esther is reassured by her lord is an adaptation of that
sung in the Passion music by the Blessed Virgin and
Jesus Christ in His last moments. Strangest of all, the
moving strains in which Haman pleads for his life with
Esther are taken from Christ's agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane. But if the solos in Esther are not alto-
gether satisfactory, many of the choruses are magnificent,
and give rich promise of what Handel was subsequently
to accomplish in handling vast masses of sound. The
plaintive " Ye sons of Israel, mourn," is a highly successful
HANDEL
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 269
first essay in a manner of which the beautiful " For Sion
lamentation make," in Judas Maccabcsus, is perhaps the
most familiar example. " He comes to end our woes "
is a ringing song of victory in Handel's most brilliant
vein, and in the splendid finale he put to triumphant use
the experience that he had gained in his Chandos
anthems.
Acis and Galatea was, like EstheT-, originally called
a masque, and like Esther was doubtless intended for
stage performance, but there the resemblance between
the two ends. EstJier was a pioneering excursion into
an undiscovered country, but in Acis, Handel was on
ground that he had already traversed during his Italian
days. The English Acis has nothing in common with
the Neapolitan Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, save subject, but
it is a nobler and richer development of the " pastoral "
that had been popular all over Europe for many years.
In its exquisite strains the masques of Jacobean times
reached a brilliant climax. Acis was the most perfect
work Handel had yet written, some might say the most
perfect work he ever wrote. Gay's pretty poem inspired
him, and his music is wrought with a touch at once delicate
and sure. " Do you know the music ? " wrote Edward
FitzGerald to Frederic Tennyson. " It is of Handel's best,
and as classical as any man who wore a full-bottomed wig
could write." Wig or no wig, it has the magic that only
genius can evoke, and the romantic charm that is for all
time. The sunny life of old Sicily sparkles in its pages,
the very spirit of Theocritus breathes through its delicious
melodies. We know it nowadays, alas ! only as a cantata,
but its proper place is in the theatre, as the few who can
remember Macready's wonderful revival in 1842, of which
FitzGerald was writing, can testify. It has often been
270 HANDEL
performed on the stage since those days, and always with
remarkable success. Even the grotesque exhibition given
ten years ago by the now defunct Purcell Operatic Society
did not wholly obscure its beauties.
After leaving the Duke of Chandos, Handel devoted
his energies almost exclusively to opera for many years.
The coronation of George II in 1727 drew him for a
moment from the stage to the church. The four anthems
that he wrote for the festal service rank among his most
famous works, and in their own particular line have never
been surpassed. Never before or since have the pomp and
splendour of human things been set to music of more
regal magnificence. The voice of a great nation speaks
in Handel's majestic strains. The flash of jewels and the
glitter of gold is in his music. The spiritual note is not
touched — what place, indeed, could it have in the corona-
tion of George II ? — but so far as earthly things can
compass the sublime it is compassed in Handel's Corona-
tion music. The superb dignity of the anthems has
extorted eulogy from men more famous in literature than
in art. Edward FitzGerald, a devoted, though narrow
Handelian, thought them his masterpiece. " Handel never
gets out of his wig — that is, out of his age. His Hallelujah
chorus is a chorus, not of angels, but of well-fed earthly
choristers, ranged tier above tier in a Gothic cathedral,
with princes for audience, and their military trumpets
flourishing over the full volume of the organ. Handel's
gods are like Homer's, and his sublime never reaches be-
yond the region of the clouds. Therefore I think that his
great marches, triumphal pieces, and Coronation anthems
are his finest works." One of De Quincey's opium-dreams
refers to the magnificent opening of Zadok the Priest,
the first of the four anthems : " Then suddenly would
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 271
come a dream of far different character — a tumultuous
dream, commencing with a music such as now I often
heard in sleep, music of preparation and of awakening
suspense. The undulations of fast-gathering tumults
were like the opening of the Coronation anthem ; and,
like tJiat, gave the feeling of multitudinous movement, of
infinite cavalcades filing off, and the tread of innumerable
armies."
The revivals of Esther ■a.x^i^ Act's in 1732 turned Handel's
attention once more in the direction of oratorio, and in
1733 he produced Deborah, which was thus the first of his
sacred oratorios conceived and executed as such. Deborah
differs totally from Esther in structure. Esther was an
oratorio only by accident, but Deborah was specially
designed to bring into play those mighty forces which
in Esther only made but a fitful appearance. There is
nothing dramatic about Deborah. It has no action and
very little characterisation. The scheme of the work is
purely epical. It tells the story of a battle of nations.
The protagonists are no mere individuals, but the rival
powers of Israel and Amalek, the worshippers of Jehovah
and of Baal, joined in bitter and deadly strife. The plot
is unfolded almost entirely by means of narrative anf
chorus, the utterances of Deborah, Barak, and the other
characters being for the most part merely comments on
the situation. Thus the structure of the work differs
entirely from that of drama, with its quick play of
chequered feeling, and approximates far more closely to
that of the epic, in which, though the characters appear
and pronounce speeches, they seem to move in a world
far removed from that of real life. The stately splendour
of Handel's style harmonised incomparably with the form
that he had practically invented. His solemn slow-
272 HANDEL
moving airs fit as perfectly into their places in the general
scheme as do the speeches in Paradise Lost, The varied
passion and strenuous emotion that in his operas he painted
with so fine a touch would here strike a jarring note.
Dignity is the note of Deborah, though within the limits
that he assigned himself Handel found room for powerful
contrasts and felicitous descriptive effects. The overture,
even more patently than that of Esther, is a disproof of the
assertion that Handel's preludes have nothing to do with
the works that they usher in. Two of the themes are actually
taken from choruses in the work itself,onesungbythepriests
of Baal and the other by the Israelites, and the overture is
obviously designed as a brief compendium of the struggle
between the opposing nations. The solos are the least
interesting part of the work. Many of them are taken
from earlier works, from the Passion and from various
anthems. They are often skilfully adapted to new uses,
but there is little attempt at characterisation, and the
characters are for the most part merely types. Abinoam,
the father of Barak, is an exception. He is the first of
the wonderful series of old men, whom Handel drew with
so loving a hand. His song, " Tears, such as tender fathers
shed," though an adaptation of an air in one of the Chandos
anthems, is a perfect little picture of the tenderness of
paternal love. But the great strength of Deborah lies in
its choruses, which are something altogether different from
anything the world had seen before. In grand procession
they stride along, with necks with thunder clothed and
long resounding pace. Several are taken from the Corona-
tion anthems, but the new ones are more imposing still.
" Immortal Lord of earth and skies," " See the proud
chief," " Lord of Eternity " — each one seems more
tremendous than the last, for Handel's coursers never tire.
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 273
In his later days Handel did far finer and subtler work
than anything in Deborah, but he rarely surpassed the
ringing choruses in which the might of Israel defies the
pride of heathendom,
Deborah, as we have seen above (p. 119), was very
far from being an unequivocal success. The raised
prices of the seats got Handel into serious trouble,
and it is easy to believe that the sonorous splendour
of the music was a good deal above the heads of the
audiences of Walpole's London. Handel had yet to
educate his followers into appreciating his sublime epics.
He seems to have felt this himself, and his next oratorio
Athaliah-wdiS much slighter in design. The grave majesty
of Deborah here gives place to a lighter and more lyrical
manner, and the functions of the chorus are considerably
curtailed. The libretto of AthaliaJi was doubtless partly
responsible for this. It is an adaptation of Racine's
Athalie, and has a good deal more of the drama about it
than Deborah. The characters are more carefully treated,
and the solos are on a distinctly higher level, Athaliah
herself dominates the scene. There is an almost ^schy-
lean grandeur in her guilty pride and insolence, and the
superstitious terror inspired by her boding dream gives a
curiously heathenish touch to her strange and imposing
figure. In charming contrast is the group of pious
Israelites, the inspired seer Joad, the gentle Josabeth, and
the delightfully boyish Joash, As in Deborah, the Israelites
and the worshippers of Baal are employed to balance the
picture with striking effect, but the contrast is more
subtly elaborated in Athaliah. The voluptuous beauty of
heathendom is emphasized in a remarkable way. The
chorus, " Cheer her, O Baal," in which Athaliah's disturbed
spirits are soothed by her attendants, has a strange
2;4 HANDEL
languorous charm that breathes all the potent magic of
the perfumed East, and no less insinuating is the caressing
tenderness of the lovely air, " Gentle airs, melodious
strains." The Israelites' music, too, if less overpowering
than the stupendous choruses of Deborah, has a special
charm and character of its own. Several of the choruses
are fine specimens of Handel's grand manner, but it is the
lighter numbers, such as the exquisite chorus of virgins in
the opening scene, and the delicious duet, " Joys in gentle
train appearing," that impart to AtJialiah its special char-
acter, and give it a place of its own among Handel's
oratorios.
The two works which Handel wrote in 1734 for the
marriage of his patroness and pupil the Princess Royal,
were almost entirely concocted from his earlier com-
positions. Parnasso in Festa was mainly drawn from
Atkaliah^ though two of the best numbers in it, the
choruses of hunters and of sylvans, are new, and the
Wedding anthem was altogether an adaptation of old
material. A grander note was struck in Alexander^ s Feast
(1736), a work which during Handel's lifetime was as
popular as anything that he produced. It is curious to
note, as the years pass by, how each generation in turn
seems to find something to suit its own special require-
ments in the works of the great masters. Handel, for.
instance, is treasured to-day by those who know anything
of his music outside The Messiah chiefly for his imaginative
qualities, but the eighteenth century preferred him in his
more rhetorical vein. The critics of the day set little
store by even such a tremendous masterpiece of imagina-
tion as Israel in Egypt. The Messiah itself, judged as a
work of art pure and simple, fell flat. It was only when
it was definitely taken over by the Church that it became
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 275
popular. What people preferred in those days was the
sonorous dignity of the Dettingen Te Deum and the glitter-
ing pageantry of Alexander's Feast, and, as we have seen,
the same view of Handel prevailed even down to the days
of FitzGerald. Alexatiders Feast is indeed a masterpiece
in its own way. Handel's music is an admirable equiva-
lent for the ringing rhetoric of Dryden. If one looks in
vain for profound feeling or soaring imagination, Handel
gives you instead admirable workmanship, inexhaustible
vigour, and unfaltering dignity of utterance. Alexander' s
Feast is a wonderful series of pictures, each one dashed
off in broad splashes of colour by the hand of a master.
When Handel is in this vein his simple directness of
method is overpowering. He seems to hurl his effects
straight in your face. It was of such music as this that
Mozart was thinking when he said, " When he chooses,
he strikes like a thunderbolt."
The anthem written in 1736 for the Prince of Wales's
wedding was a much better piece of work than the hastily
put together pasticcio of 1734. Handel turned to it often
in after-life, and the greater part of the music is familiar
to us in the slightly altered form in which it reappeared
in The Triumph of Time and Truth and other oratorios.
The spring of 1737 saw the revival in a remodelled
form of Handel's Italian oratorio, // Trionfo del Tempo,
to which we will return in discussing the final form in
which the work was presented in 1757.
In the following autumn he composed the beautiful
anthem for the funeral of Queen Caroline, a work which,
for dignity of utterance and depth of feeling, yields to
nothing that he ever wrote. But all his previous triumphs
paled before the two great oratorios that he composed
in 1738, Saul and Israel in Egypt. In Saul Handel
276 HANDEL
found a subject worthy of his powers. The libretto is
skilfully put together, and Handel wedded it to music
which combines the force and majesty of Deborah with
the freshness of Atlialiah. The special note of Saul is
picturesqueness. Each scene in turn is handled with a
graphic touch that makes every detail start into life
with singular vividness. Take the opening scene, in
which the people of Israel welcome the youthful hero,
David, after his victory over the Philistines, First we
hear the sounds of rejoicing in the distance, little more
than a joyful marchlike movement accompanied by the
ringing of a peal of bells. Then the maidens of Israel
appear, leading the long procession. The music swells
into a wonderful swaying rhythm as they dance forward
singing a chorus of enchanting freshness and simplicity.
The scene darkens for a moment while Saul passes along
muttering envious curses, only to brighten again as the
whole body of the people burst into triumphant chorus
with the blaring of trumpets and the crashing of drums.
Later in the work comes the appropriate pendant to
this brilliant scene of rejoicing — the wonderful lament
over the bodies of the slain king and his son. Never,
even in Samson, did Handel give voice to the strains
of a nation's lamentation in tones of a sublimer pathos.
The varied emotions of the scene are depicted in his
music with all that concentrated power of imagination
which is Handel's special property. First comes the
solemn procession bearing the bodies of Saul and
Jonathan to the immortal strain of the Dead March,
while the people lift their voices in a chorus of mourn-
ing for the fallen warriors of Israel. David's eulogy of
the heroes strikes a sterner note. There is a touch of
the fierce joy of battle in the music as he sings of
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 277
the sword of Saul, and how it "drank the blood of
slaughtered foes." The people catch the spirit of his
words, and echo them in a short chorus of almost bar-
baric rapture. Then the music changes again, as David
sings of Jonathan and the love that passes the love of
women, leading into a chorus in which the very soul
of passionate grief is transmuted into sound. After
the tension of this scene, the relief of the final chorus
is unspeakable. It is a jubilant prophecy of the future
triumphs of David, and brings the oratorio to a close
with the thunder of victory. These are only two of the
many noble passages in Saul. There are others no less
striking, such as the famous Envy chorus and the weird
incantation scene in the witch's cavern at Endor. The
character-drawing in the oratorio is more graphic than
anything Handel had yet attempted, though his touch
was to become surer in his later years. Saul's jealous
misanthropy is well contrasted with the boyish charm
of David, and another happy touch is gained by the
contrasted emotions of the gentle Michal and the haughty
Merab. Very striking, too, is the music associated with
the " monster atheist," Goliath, which those who are
interested in tracing foreshadowings of modern effects
in the music of older masters should compare with
Wagner's giant music in Das RJieingold. The orchestra-
tion of Saul is particularly interesting. Handel here
employed effects which he never subsequently attempted
in oratorio, feeling probably that the epic character of
the form demanded an austerer method of treatment
than was legitimate in opera. The score of Saul is
enriched by trombones, and has an independent organ
part — the latter a rare feature in eighteenth-century
music. The use of a carillon of bells gives a special
278 HANDEL
colour to the Israelite rejoicings in the opening scene,
and two bassoons are employed with eerie effect to
support the utterances of Samuel's ghost. A curious
instance of Handel's occasional use of archaic instru-
ments is to be found in David's exorcism of the evil
spirit, which is accompanied by a theorbo.
Immediately upon the completion of Saul^ Handel
plunged into the composition of Israel in Egypt. No
two works could present a more complete contrast.
Handel seems to have been making experiments in the
matter of form, and at this point in his career he was
evidently wavering between the dramatic and the epic
varieties of oratorio. The rapid play of individual
emotion in Saul gives place to a severely epic manner
of narration. Save for the few bars allotted to Miriam,
the solos in Israel are purely impersonal. The tale of
the salvation of the chosen people is told almost entirely
in a chain of gigantic choruses, illustrating the sufferings
of Israel in the land of bondage, the plagues inflicted
by Jehovah upon the Egyptians, the escape of the
Israelites, the passage of the Red Sea, and the final
song of victory. The subject is colossal, and its treat-
ment no less so. The possibilities of choral music as
a means of expression are practically exhausted in Israel.
Nothing like it had been heard before its day, nor has
been attempted since. Israel remains one of the most
astonishing tours de force in the history of music. As a
combination of massive grandeur of style and picturesque
force, it stands alone. It is like a vast series of frescoes
painted by a giant on the walls of some primeval temple.
The colours may have faded, but the sublime conception
and the grand strength of line survive to astonish later
and more degenerate ages. The range of Handel's
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 279
genius was never more triumphantly displayed than in
Israel. The skill with which each separate effect is
gained is no less striking than the unfailing power of
picturesque suggestion. Each of the plague choruses
is a masterpiece in its way. There is, as it were, a
shudder of disgust in the diminished sevenths and the
passages of descending semitones in " They loathed to
drink of the waters," which is considerably more im-
pressive than the somewhat naif realism of the succeed-
ing solo, " Their land brought forth frogs." But if the
frogs cannot be taken very seriously, the tremendous
exordium of " He spake the word " transports us to a
very different world, and the swarming flies and tramp-
ling locusts are painted with no loss of epic grandeur.
Finer still is the famous Hailstone chorus, one of those
big primitive things which are typical of one side of
Handel's genius. The means by which the gathering
storm is suggested are almost ludicrously simple, but
they never miss fire, and the climax bursts upon us with
terrific majesty. Finest of all is " He sent a thick dark-
ness," in which the voices of a bewildered people cry
to each other through the murky air with so strangely
desolate a pathos. But space forbids a minute analysis
of so familiar a work, and I must be content to touch
on some of the most prominent features of the oratorio.
It is characteristic of Handel that often a word or a
phrase was enough to stimulate his genius to astonishing
flights of imagination. Thus the words, "He led them
forth like sheep," are responsible for the deliciously
pastoral flow of the chorus, " But as for his people."
Similarly in a later chorus, " The people shall hear," the
composer fastened upon the phrase, " till thy people
shall pass over, O Lord," and made it the foundation of
2 8o HANDEL
an amazing picture of the weary march of the Israelites
through the desert — a picture heightened by harmonies
which, even to us, seem audacious in their rugged dis-
sonance, and to an eighteenth-century audience must
have sounded much as the harmonic experiments of
Strauss or Debussy sound to modern ears. This is
immediately followed by another picture, suggested by
the words " Thou shalt bring them in," in which the
serene loveliness of the land flowing with milk and honey
is painted with a tranquil charm that is intensified by
the harsh discords of the preceding chorus, Handel
appreciated the majesty and splendour of the sea as
perhaps no other composer in the whole history of music
has done. His works are full of noble sea-pictures, and
Israel is particularly rich in them. The solemn march
of the children of Israel through the wild waters is
grandly suggested in " He led them through the deep,"
and even finer is " But the waters overwhelmed them,"
through which the tumultuous glory of the lashing
waves surges with such marvellous freshness and vigour ;
but the greatest moment of all is the tremendous close
of " And with the blast of Thy nostrils," where the depths
congealed in the heart of the sea are painted with that
awful simplicity of which Handel alone held the secret.
" Egypt was glad " is a happy instance of Handel's
ingenious use of other men's work for his own purposes.
It is borrowed almost note for note from an organ
canzona by an obscure German composer named Kerl,
but it fits admirably into its place. Handel's conception
of the Egyptians was that of a dull, hide-bound race,
whom even the miraculous series of plagues scarcely
disturbed in the narrow groove of their complacent
apathy. He here contrasts their frozen conservatism
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 281
with the progressive genius of the Israelites by the use
of archaic methods of expression. The idea is felicitous,
and, like most of Handel's experiments, is carried out
with complete success.^ But everything else in Israel
pales before the astounding finale, in which triumphant
rapture is tuned to such strains as Handel himself never
surpassed. The tremendous " I will sing unto the Lord "";
soars to fabulous heights of sonorous splendour, and fitly j
brings to a close an oratorio which has a place of its own
among the world's masterpieces. Handel might justly
have said of Israel, as Wagner said of Tristan und Isolde,
that it was an extravagance, not to be repeated nor
imitated, but of all his works it is the most completely
out of the reach of every other composer who ever lived.
After Israel Handel may well have felt that even his
tireless coursers needed some repose, and his next two
works were on a much less ambitious scale. Tlie Ode for
St. Cecilia's Day, though brief in compass, ranks among
Handel's finest and most characteristic works. Dryden's
poem, written as it was for musical setting, offers every
possible opportunity for varied treatment. The opening
recitative, "When nature underneath a heap of jarring
atoms lay," is a curious piece of descriptive writing, in
which odd little snatches of naif realism jostle passages
of real grandeur. In some of the airs that follow, the
obbligato passages now sound sadly antiquated and
meaningless, but there is a splendidly martial ring in the
very Purcellian " The trumpet's loud clangour," and the
air alia Hornpipe, " Orpheus could lead the savage race,"
into which Handel, who apparently liked Scotchmen no
^ The question of Handel's indebtedness to earlier composers, of which
Israel in Egypt affords perhaps more striking instances than any of his other
works, is discussed in Appendix C.
282 HANDEL
more than did Dr. Johnson, introduced an unmistakable
allusion to the bagpipes, is deliciously fresh and quaint.
But the two great movements of the work are the lovely
organ-song, " But oh ! what art can teach," with its
wonderful atmosphere of tranquil ecstasy, and the
tremendous finale, in which the awful terrors of the
Judgment Day are painted with a sublime majesty
worthy of the brush of Michael Angelo himself.
Very different in scope is Handel's setting of Milton's
L Allegro and // Penseroso, arranged by Jennens, and
adorned with a singularly tasteless coda of his own
devising, // Moderato. Here Handel laid aside his wig,
and wrote a work which stands by itself for freshness of
inspiration and delicacy of treatment. U Allegro is a
series of exquisite genre pictures sketched with the
lightest touch and yet elaborated with the most intimate
detail. Nothing that Handel has left us shows more
convincingly his love of nature. U Allegro is full of
delicious studies in plein-airisine. The country breezes
blow freshly and sweetly through it, and the perfume of
the wild rose lingers in its tender melodies. The recitative,
" Mountains, on whose barren breast," is a wonderful piece
of landscape-painting, and who has ever surpassed the
romantic moon-rise in the second part of " Sweet bird,"
so rarely sung by the sopranos who revel in the faded
coloratura of the opening section ? In a different vein is
the enchanted mystery of the " summer eves by haunted
stream," and the woodland magic of" Hide me from day's
garish eye." It is worth noting that L Allegro was
written during the great frost of 1740, yet there is no
touch of winter in its merry strains. Snow-bound as he
was in London, Handel seems to have harked back in
imagination to the fields and hedgerows of Edgware.
ORATORIOS AND OTHER CHORAL WORKS 283
L Allegro rings with the sounds of rustic mirth. " Let
me wander" is a delicious little idyll of the meadows,
leading into the innocent gaiety of " Or let the merry
bells ring round," with youth and maiden dancing in the
chequered shade. Another perfect little vignette is the
hunting scene pictured in " Mirth admit me of thy crew,"
and the note of honest English merriment rings clear
in the splendidly vigorous laughing-song, " Haste thee,
nymph." But L Allegro is not all out-of-door life by any
means. There is a charming little song in which the bell-
man in the street and the cricket on the hearth have a
quaint kind of duet, and the fireside picture in " Oft on a
plat of rising ground," with the curfew tolling in the
distance, is as perfect as a Dutch interior by Teniers or
Ostade.
I have lingered over V Allegro not merely on account
of its intrinsic beauty, but because it is one of the best
proofs we have of Handel's extraordinary breadth of
sympathy. Nothing in man or nature came amiss to
him. It is impossible not to feel that the man who wrote
L Allegro knew all about the scenes he was describing.
Not only had he sat dreaming in close covert by some
brook, and wandered over russet lawns and fallows grey,
but he had discussed the hay crop with the mower as he
whetted his scythe, and as like as not danced to the
rebeck's sound with the buxom wenches of Edeware,
CHAPTER XVII
THE MESSIAH
FAMILIARITY breeds contempt, the proverb tells
us. I am by no means sure that that is true as
a general rule, and when it does happen I am inclined
to think that the contempt is well deserved, so that the
familiarity merely uncloaked the weaknesses which were
not perceptible at a first acquaintance. However, famili-
arity breeds a good many other things as well, chiefly
misunderstanding. It is the most familiar things that are
the most misunderstood. Look at the Bible, for instance,
which all of us are supposed to know by heart. Is there
a more misunderstood book in the world ? How many of
the pious people who daily absorb a portion of it ever
realise, to take one point, the transcendent literary beauty
of our Authorised Version ? How many even realise its
value as a record of fact? They allow themselves to
be hypnotised by its supposed sanctity, and forget that it
purports to be a record of the actions of human beings.
As a rule those who read it oftenest know least about it.
Look again at Gullivers Travels, which I suppose,
next to the Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, and Robinson
Crusoe, is the book that the average Englishman knows
best. How strange has been its fate. The marvellous
and terrible book in which Swift poured forth the stored
2S4
THE MESSIAH 285
passion of his savage soul and glutted his hatred of the
animal man, has sunk to the rank of a nursery primer
from which lisping infants learn to spell. The fate of
The Messiah has been in some ways harder still.
The stupendous masterpiece in which Handel released
Christianity from the bondage of fact, and wrote the
romance of human redemption in characters of immortal
fire, is now degraded to the level of a mild digestive
which helps the struggling Nonconformist conscience to
tide over the festivities of Christmas. The ceremony of
attending a performance of The Messiah is to the average
Englishman as immutable a Christmas institution as going
to church or eating a slice of turkey. If you tell him that
The Messiah is a work of art, you either amuse or shock
him. A work of art, indeed — he would as soon apply the
phrase to a plum-pudding !
As a matter of fact, The Messiah is not only a very
great work of art, but it is actually the first instance in
the history of music of an attempt to view the mighty
drama of human redemption from an artistic standpoint.
We have only got to compare The Messiah with such a
work as Bach's Matthew Passion to see how entirely its
point of view differs from that of a work written, so to
speak, under the wing of the Church. Bach's Passion
is only a work of art by accident. It was primarily
written for edification, and edification, however excellent
a thing in itself, has nothing to do with art, though art
is often compelled to be its handmaid. Bach's Passion
is a church service, Handel's Messiah is a poem.
Bach deals with facts, Handel with ideas. I am con-
tinually reading in popular little musical handbooks of
the day that Bach is extraordinarily modern in feeling,
and Handel altogether old-fashioned. Very likely that
286 HANDEL
may be so in some way that I do not understand, but it
strikes me that as regards their view of reHgion precisely
the opposite is the case. Bach's attitude to Christianity
is just what one would expect from a man of his bringing
up and surroundings. He is a very good example of the
average pietistic eighteenth-century Lutheran, with his
bloodthirsty delight in the realistic details of Christ's
passion, very much in the style of our own pious poet
who wanted to be washed from his sins in a bath of
blood or something of the kind. We have moved on a
little since those days, and even the extreme Evangelicals,
if any of them still survive, would now find Bach's
Christianity slightly out of date. Handel's view of
Christianity, on the other hand, is so surprisingly modern
that the only book in which I have found it paralleled
with any exactness is Mr. George Santayana's Interpreta-
tions of Poetry and Religion, which was published only a
few years ago. I will venture to borrow a few passages
from that very remarkable work, because I find Handel's
attitude to Christianity as I read it in TJie Messiah better
expressed in Mr. Santayana's words than in any that I
could myself devise. In The Messiah, then, as I have
said, for the first time in the history of music we find
the drama of human redemption treated as a poem, not
as a record of events. While his predecessors and con-
temporaries had exercised their art in presenting the
story of Christ in its most human and realistic colours,
Handel realised that the facts of Christ's life were nothing
until they became symbols, and that the Christian system
was in fact a picture of human destiny, an epic containing,
as it were, the moral autobiography of man. The cruci-
fixion, for example, seemed to him a tragic incident
without further significance if regarded merely as an
THE MESSIAH 287
historical fact, as unessential to the Christian religion as
was the death of Socrates to the Socratic philosophy. In
order to make it a religious mystery, an idea capable of
converting the world, the moral imagination must trans-
form it into something that happens for the sake of the
soul, so that each believer may say to himself that Christ
so suffered for the love of him. Then, by ceasing to be
viewed as an historical fact, the death of Christ becomes
an inspiration. The whole of Christian doctrine is thus
religious and efficacious only when it becomes poetry,
because only then is it the felt counterpart of personal
experience and a genuine expression of human life. This
is the idee mere of TJie Messiah. The aim of the work is
purely artistic. It has no didactic purpose. It is not a
sermon, but a song — a magnificent effort of the human
imagination, exercised upon the greatest and most
inspiring of conceivable subjects. Incidentally it is also
extremely edifying, but its edificatory purpose has been
read into it by modern hearers who have found in The
Messiah what they wished to find, rather than what the
composer meant them to find. But it is the special
property of great works of art that they mean one thing
to one generation and one to another. The Messiah has
a message to high and low, rich and poor, wise and
foolish alike. By the side of imaginative flights of such
measureless sublimity that they soar far beyond the ken
of ordinary mortality, it contains passages so simple and
direct that the dullest mind can comprehend them. The
Messiah, if not Handel's greatest work, is undoubtedly
the most universal in its appeal.
Charles Jennens, the compiler of the text, has never
had justice done to him. His libretto is really a very
able piece of work. Knowing as we do how often
288 HANDEL
Handel stayed beneath his roof, we may take for granted
that the two worked together at TJie Messiah, and it is
possible that Handel had a larger share in the prepara-
tion of the text than Jennens, whose letter on the subject
has already been quoted, cared to admit. However that
may be, the ingenuity with which the words are selected
is remarkable. Jennens took especial pains to steer clear,
so far as was possible, of a mere statement of the facts of
Christ's life, emphasizing rather the ideas that underlie
them, and using the prophetic language of the Old
Testament in preference to the narrative of the -New.
This alone did much towards raising the work from the
earthly region of prose to the ethereal heights of poetry.
But the libretto alone is, of course, nothing but a string
of texts, however skilfully juxtaposed. It was Handel's
genius that welded them into a sublime work of art.
The Messiah, as has been said, tells the story of man's
redemption. It is divided into three sections, the first of
which sets forth the promise of the Redeemer, the birth
of Christ, and His mission of healing and comfort ; the
second is devoted to His passion, resurrection, and ascen-
sion, the preaching of the gospel, the discomfiture of the
heathen, and the establishment of the kingdom of God
upon earth ; the third .part deals with the Christian
belief in the resurrection of the body, and ends with the
triumph of the redeemed and the glory of heaven.
Face to face with a subject of this character, Handel
felt that the picturesque orchestration which is so
prominent a feature of Satil would be out of place. The
drama of human redemption demanded an austerer and
more reticent mode of treatment. The score of The
Messiah is one of the simplest that Handel ever wrote.
Save in the choruses, where the voice parts are doubled
THE MESSIAH 289
)y wind instruments, and trumpets and drums are
sparingly used, the accompaniments are written almost
vvithout exception for strings alone. Yet within the
narrow limits that he assigned to himself Handel's
comm.and of varied colour is remarkable, and Sir
Frederic^ Bridge's highly successful experiment of
performing-, The Messiah at the Albert Hall with the
original orchestration h^s opened the eyes of many, who
knew the oratorio only as disguised in the elegant
embroidery of Mozart's additional accompaniments, to
the real beauty ano' majesty of Handel's score.
Nothing is so difficult to criticise as the familiar ;
and to English musicians,\ who have known every note
of The Messiah from the/r childhood, it is especially
difficult to get, as it were, o itside the work, to banish the
sentimental associations t' at have clustered round it,
and to regard it as a w )rk of art pure and simple.
There are many well-mea .ing persons to whom such an
attitude of mind is dista' ceful. The Messiah is to them
a thing above all criticiF:m, occupying a place apart from
Handel's other works, indeed apart from all other music
whatsoever. But it is no good taking The Messiah on
trust as a sort of divinely inspired revelation. The only
way to understand and appreciate it is to pick it to pieces,
just as if it were a new work by a composer of our own
day.
The overture, gloomy and austere in tone, presents a
picture •f the world plunged in sin and despair, before
the premise •f a. Messiah hari kindled the hope of ever-
lasting life. On this scene of doubt and darkness the
voice of the Comforter strikes with magical effect. The
change from minor to major at the opening of the accom-
panied recitative, " C©mf»rt ye my people," is one of th«se
If
2 90 HANDEL
effects, all the more thrilling from their very simpHcit} '
of which Handel held the secret. The following air
"Every valley," is on a distinctly lower level. Like £(>
many of Handel's songs — and of Bach's too, (or ^ \ t
matter, to say nothing of most of the other eightoe...,
century composers — it is defaced by the inte^rminable
divisions, which were accepted by Georgian audiences
as conventionally expressive of joy and gladness, but
seem to modern ears as frigid and tastele^^s as the stucco
ornaments of a barocco church — so Utile does one era
accept the conventions of another. ! Apart from its
, divisions and its vigorous and pirited flow, there is very
little in "Every valley" w i lingering over, and the
naz'veU' with which the " ro-. place-. " are made plain is
apt to provoke a sm'ic. 2Nioi is ihe chorus, "And the
glory of the Lord," in any seni 2 one of Handel's greatest
achievements. There is a ceri in straightforward vigour
about it in which Handel's mu»ic is rarely deficient, but
its rhythm sadly lacks dignity and its development is
long-winded, and the great effec.!: of the repeated note
is much better managed in the '' Ht^llelujah" chorus, for
which indeed "And the glory" is hardly more than a
rough sketch. Far more striking is the great scena that
follows, which was originally written for a contralto but
is now, according to a precedent established by Handel
himself, usually assigned to a bass.^ The opening
recitative, " Thus saith the Lord," is extraordinarily in.-,
pressive ; even the quaintly realistic divisions on the
^ Considerations of space forbid me to discuss the questions raised by a
comparison of the various MSS. of T/ie Messiah. Numerous versions of
many of the airs exist, and a study of the changes introduced by Handel
into the oratorio is exceedingly interesting. With regard to details, students
will find Sir William Cusins's pamphlet on The Messiah (Augener & Co.,
1874) extremely valuable.
THE MESSIAH 291
word " shake " seem to fit into their place very happily.
The following air, " But who may abide," is one of Handel's
most startlingly original productions. The mere form of
the air was probably unprecedented in his time, and the
contrast between the terrible desolation of the opening
larghetto and the rushing flickering flames of the refiner's
fire in the succeeding prestissimo is astonishingly fine.
This is one of the passages in The Messiah that has
gained most by the recent return to Handel's original
accompaniment. Mozart, if the additions usually attri-
buted to him are actually his, seems, as in many other
instances, to have totally misapprehended Handel's
meaning. His graceful embroideries completely obscure
the carefully designed contrast between guilty man
standing defenceless upon the bare earth and the advent
of the terrible Judge in flames and tempest. The interest
of the chorus, " And He shall purify the sons of Levi," is
purely musical. I confess that I have not the least idea
what connection the words have with the " plot " of The
Messiah, and I doubt if Handel had much more. He
adapted the music from one of a set of Italian duets that
he had written just before beginning The Messiah, a
blameless ditty about nothing in particular, and it fits
the sons of Levi just as well as the flowers and sunsets
of the original poem.
The little recitative that follows, " Behold, a virgin
shall conceive," short as it is, is one of the most wonderful
things in The Messiah. It has the tender exaltation of
one of Giovanni Bellini's Madonnas, with a touch of
sacred awe that was out of Bellini's compass. The same
note of solemnity sounds through the rapture of " O thou
that tellest good tidings to Zion," and lifts it above mere
jubilation. One of the most striking features of The
V
292 HANDEL
^ Messiah is the skill which, in spite of its purely epical
structure, Handel arranged his contrasts. The bass
recitative and air, " For behold, darkness shall cover the
earth," would be extraordinarily impressive in any context,
but placed as it is between two of the " high lights " of the
work it is doubly effective. Simple as are the means
employed, it is one of the most speaking musical pictures
ever painted. " The people that walked in darkness "
affords a particularly good instance of the advantage
gained by performing TJie Messiah as Handel wrote it,
and not as other people think he ought to have written
it. Mozart's wind parts, so beautiful in themselves and
so utterly inappropriate to the subject, do not, as
Rockstro truly observed, suggest darkness at all, but
rather an enchanted atmosphere of soft golden light ;
^ whereas Handel's unison passages for strings and
bassoons give a picture of a people groping its way
through the blackness of night, to which music affords
no parallel for force and intensity. " For unto us a child
is born " is another of the choruses that owes its birth
to one of the Italian duets already mentioned, and the
process of its development deserves the most careful
study. Here again those who have only heard it
caricatured in Mozart's version know nothing of Handel's
real meaning. Mozart's added brass not only ruins the
effect of Handel's skilfully contrived climax in this
particular chorus, but defeats the design of the whole
oratorio. " For unto us " is the climax of the prophetic
section, but it is still prophecy, not fulfilment. Handel
carefully reserved his trumpets until the following
section, just as he reserved the soprano voice to lend
brightness to the advent of the promised Messiah. It is
curious that Mozart, of all people in the world, should
THE MESSIAH 293
have missed this important point, since he did very much
the same thing in Don Giovanni, reserving his trombones
to add impressiveness to the supernatural terrors of the
closing scenes.
In the Pastoral Symphony and the following numbers
we come nearer to drama than in any other part of The
Messiah. The birth of Christ is not described, but we
are taken to the fields where the shepherds abode by
night, and we listen with them to the angelic communica-
tion. The climax is contrived with Handel's usual care
and skill. The lovely Pastoral Symphony paints the
tranquil scene in colours the most delicate and subtle.
It is worth noticing that Handel, true to his principle of
keeping to low tones in the orchestration of The Messiah,
chose not to employ the traditionally pastoral hautboys
in this movement. The entry of the soprano voice, so
long delayed, strikes on the ear with a clarion note of
exaltation, and through the chain of recitatives that
follow — which cost Handel a great deal of trouble before
he arrived at the final form — the excitement grows with*
each bar until the angelic choir bursts in with its jubilant
cry of " Glory to God," accompanied by the trumpets
that now are heard for the first time. The glitter and
sparkle of this chorus is astonishing. Here in good
truth are the " voices that seem to shine " of which the
old Elizabethan poet wrote, while the thrilling notes of
the trumpets and the rushing passages for the violins
seem to throw open the skies and give wondrous glimpses
of celestial radiance beyond. Mozart's treatment of
Handel's orchestration in this chorus is so incredible as
to raise a serious doubt whether the accompaniments
traditionally ascribed to him can possibly be by his hand.
Not only did he completely spoil the effect of the entry
294 HANDEL
of the trumpets by adding trumpet parts to " For unto
us," but in " Glory to God " he actually cut out Handel's
trumpet parts and wrote others of his own, leaving the
voices in the opening bars supported only by strings and
wood and reserving the trumpets until the words, " and
peace on earth." The close of the chorus, with its ex-
quisite diminuendo as the angels gradually disappear, is
another characteristically Handelian passage, which may
possibly have suggested to Wagner the close of his
Lohengrin prelude where the angels who have brought the
Holy Grail to earth disappear in the trackless blue, and
indeed the whole number is a shining instance of Handel's
extraordinary command of picturesque effect. The
flashing soprano air, " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion," is a fine example of the legitimate use of coloratura,
to which the serene loveliness of the passage, " He shall
speak peace unto the heathen," forms a perfect contrast.
In a very different vein is the succeeding air, " He
shall feed His flock," in which Christ's earthly mission
of comfort and consolation is painted in music whose
infinite tenderness expresses, as only the greatest of all
musicians could express it, the wonderful secret of
Christianity, the charm that won the world from the
radiant gods of Greece and taught it to bow at the feet
of the Good Shepherd gathering the lambs with His
arms and carrying them in His bosom. Never till Jesus
Christ was born had the conception of a God of Pity
dawned upon the world, and never till Handel wrote
The Messiah had music clothed with her conquering
magic the figure of the Divine Comforter whose message
is to them that labour and are heavy laden.^ Not alto-
* It has often been stated that the practice of allotting the first section of
"He shall feed His flock" to a contralto and the second to a soprano is of
THE MESSIAH 295
gether worthy of what has gone before, for all its rich
musical beauty, is the chorus, " His yoke is easy," which
brings the first part to a close. It is yet another adapta-
tion from the Italian duets, and carries the mark of its
origin in the curious opening phrase, which, however
appropriate to the flowers laughing in the sunlight, to
which it was first applied, is singularly ill adapted to
the yoke that Christ laid upon His people.
The second part of The Messiah brings us to the
passion of Christ, but the librettist, true to the spirit of
the work, has carefully avoided any reference to the
physical side of the tragedy, insisting rather on its inner
meaning. We are bidden to contemplate not the bodily
sufferings of Jesus, but the mystery of the atonement.
It is not the human Christ, scourged, stricken and
crucified, that is put before us, but the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins of the world. The solemn
opening chorus, breathing the tragedy of infinite loneliness
in its austere beauty, leads into the famous " He was
despised," in which the note of utter desolation is still
further emphasised. It is curious to note how the well-
modem origin, and a defiance of Handel's original intention. This, how-
ever, is not so ; in fact, if the MS. notes in the copy of the original libretto
now in the British INIuseum are to be relied on, the air was sung in this way
at the first performance of The Messiah. It is true that in the autograph the
whole of the air is in the key of B flat, but the Dublin MS. contains both
versions. The version now used is unquestionably an improvement upon
that given in the autograph. The device of giving the earthly message of
comfort to a contralto and its celestial application to a soprano a fourth
higher is nothing less than a stroke of genius, while the change to the key
of F is a great relief to the ear, which would otherwise resent the monotony
of three long pieces in the key of B flat. Possibly, too, a severely practical
reason may be at the bottom of the transposition, for if only one soprano
soloist were available, it would be too much to expect her to pass without any
interval from the briUiant coloratura of "Rejoice greatly" to the suave
caniabile phrases of " He shall feed His flock."
296 HANDEL
meaning persons who chose to embroider Handel's score
with additional accompaniments contrived to ignore his
obvious intentions on every possible occasion. In the
thirty-third bar of this air, Handel, who well knew the
majesty of silence, left a pause of half a baj" before the
entry of the unaccompanied voice. This pause Mozart
filled up with meaningless chords, while Franz, not to
be outdone in tastelessness and stupidity, actually added
a passage for the clarinet, anticipating the vocal phrase
and completely robbing it of its marvellous dignity and
pathos. The wonderful second part of " He was despised "
(almost invariably omitted at performances in England)
adds a touch of poignancy hy a reference to the actual
sufferings of Christ, and so leads us on to the almost
intolerable anguish of " Surely He hath borne our griefs."
After this climax of emotion some relief was necessary,
and Handel, whose artistic instinct was Athenian in its
subtlety, relieves the tension with a chorus of purely
musical interest, " And with His stripes we are healed " —
just as Euripides in his Troades soothed the overtaxed
feelings of his audience, after the terrible scene in which
Astyanax is torn from Andromache's arms, with the
purely sensuous beauty of the famous Salamis chorus.
I have myself no very great admiration for " And with
His stripes," but I recognise its value in the picture.
" All we like sheep " is a picture painted in Handel's
broadest manner. The colour is positively hurled at
the canvas. But the result is colossal. The sheep
wandering without a shepherd seem to have the whole
world for their pasture, and the tremendous coda, in which
the promise of atonement is thundered forth, seems to be
written upon the skies for all the nations to read.
We now exchange the general for the particular, and
THE MESSIAH 297
the libretto, leaving the purely epical treatment of the
atonement, leads us as it were to the foot of the cross.
Yet even here the physical side of Christ's passion is left
out of sight ; it is the contrast between His mental agony
and the scoffs of the crowd of unbelievers that forms
the subject of the picture. Similarly, the actual facts of
the resurrection and ascension are barely hinted at, the
triumph of the Saviour over death and the grave and
His ascent to heaven amidst throngs of chorusing angels
being suggested rather than described in the two beautiful
airs, " But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell," and
" Thou art gone up on high," and in the accompanying
choruses, " Lift up your heads," and " Let all the angels
of God worship Him."
The libretto then turns to the evangelisation of the
world by the apostles and their followers. The opening
number of this section, "The Lord gave the word, great
was the company of the preachers," is far from being
one of the most impressive choruses in The Messiah,
but it is technically interesting to the Handelian student
as an instance of Handel's ingenious manner of working
up old material. The opening notes at once recall the
thrilling opening of the chorus, " He spake the word," in
Israel in Egypt, and the device for expressing the count-
less multitude of preachers is borrowed from the music
illustrating "the busy hum of men," in L Allegro. The
following air, " How beautiful are the feet," gave Handel
more trouble than anything else in the oratorio. Numerous
versions of it exist in numerous forms, and it is character-
istic of the composer that he finally decided upon the
simplest of them all. But the well-known saying of
Paesiello, questo semplice com' e difficile, is truer of Handel's
music than of that to which it was originally applied. It
298 HANDEL
is his simplest things that are most effectually beyond
the reach of imitators.
The chorus, " Their sound is gone out into all lands,"
was an afterthought added to the work after the first
performance, and is the only number in The Messiah
that has independent parts for hautboys. Not only in
this is it remarkable. To it as justly as to anything
that Handel wrote can the epithet romantic be justly
applied. The long sweeping phrases that paint the flight
of the good tidings over land and sea have a soaring
freedom of utterance that gives a character to this chorus
distinct from anything else in Tlie Messiah.
So far we have traced the spread of the gospel, but
now comes a picture of the vain wrath of the heathen
who flout its message, in the turbulent energy of the bass
air, " Why do the nations so furiously rage together ? "
and the succeeding chorus, " Let us break their bonds
asunder." But the divine vengeance follows closely.
The impotent strivings of pagan insolence are crushed
in the splendidly vigorous " Thou shalt break them in
pieces," and the whole earth joins in a paean of triumph
// over the final victory of Christianity in the world-famous
"Hallelujah." Familiar as the "Hallelujah" chorus is,
it is often profoundly misunderstood, particularly by
those who have instituted comparisons between it and
the " Sanctus " of Bach's Mass in B minor. The two
compositions have nothing in common. Li the " Sanctus "
we hear the voices of the celestial choir, chanting the
praise of the Omnipotent, and casting down their crowns
upon the crystal sea. The '■ Hallelujah " chorus, on the
other hand, is essentially of the earth earthy. Its place
in The Messiah proves incontestably that it is a human
N song of rejoicing. " The kingdom of this world," it cries,
THE MESSIAH 299
"is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ."
We must wait until the close of the oratorio to hear the
anthem of those which have come out of great tribula-
tion and washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.
The third part of the oratorio deals with the resurrec-
tion of the body and the life of the world to come.
After the multitudinous thunders of the "Hallelujah"
chorus a marvellous effect of contrast is gained by the
austere simplicity of " I know that my Redeemer liveth," .
in which the chaste purity of the soprano voice, supported
by a studiously unadorned accompaniment, suggests a
cry of faith and hope rising from a world of doubt and
darkness. The air is one of Handel's profoundest inspira-
tions, but those who know it only when choked by
additional accompaniments, can never have grasped its
true meaning. To take but one instance, it is not until
Mozart's intrusive viola part has been removed that the
full force of the setting of "the first fruits of them that
sleep " can be properly appreciated. Then and not till
then is Handel's violoncello part properly heard, pulsating
through the violins and organ with a strange throb of
expectation, which tells in a language plainer than words
of the sure and certain hope that lives even in death.
In the chain of brief choruses that follows, "Since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead," Handel contrasts the old and new dispensa-
tions with startling force, borrowing harmonies and
cadences from the music of old time to emphasize the
archaic dogmas of the Law, and leaving the unaccom-
panied voices of the chorus to tell of the old Adam and
his death, while the sudden blaze of the orchestra
illuminates the new Christ and His resurrection. But
300 HANDEL
before the promised life is won the mysteries ~ of death
and judgment must be faced. The trumpet-call of doom
sounds in the stately recitative and air, " Behold I tell
you a mystery," and " The trumpet shall sound," and
in the succeeding duet, " O death, where is thy sting ? "
leading into the chorus, " But thanks be to God," death
is swallowed up in victory. The last note of triumphant
faith sounds in the rarely heard air, " If God be for us,"
and in the final chorus, " Worthy is the Lamb," the
Christian is at last in the presence of his Maker. It is
only necessary to compare " Worthy is the Lamb " with
, the " Hallelujah " chorus to realise the difference in
1 atmosphere between the two. The "Hallelujah" chorus
is an earthly song of praise, in which the thousand throats
of humanity unite to hymn the triumph of their Lord,
but in " Worthy is the Lamb " we hear the voices of the .
redeemed. Even here the voice of the devil's advocate
is heard, pointing out how Handel lacks the spirituality
of Bach, how far, in short, " Worthy is the Lamb " is
beneath the great " Sanctus " in the B minor Mass as an
, expression of rapturous exaltation. In a certain sense
i this is true. Bach was unquestionably a more spiritually
I minded, or, as we now say, a more religious man than
I Handel. When he wrote the " Sanctus " he was rapt
away from earth, and stood in spirit among the harpers
harping with their harps beside the sea of glass, and
joined his voice to theirs, Handel's feet are always upon
solid earth. His imagination opened all portals, but he
passed none. When he wrote the " Hallelujah " chorus
he " did think he saw heaven opened and the great God
Himself," but he was not, like Bach, caught up in spirit
to the heaven that he beheld. Handel was an artist
rather than a seer. While Bach was in the midst of his
THE MESSIAH 301
own imaginings, Handel contemplated the beatific vision
from afar. The method of the one was subjective, of
the other objective. Thus, in a word, must The Messiah
as a whole be judged. It is a work of pure imagination,
and to pretend that it is a record of Handel's private
emotions is to misunderstand both the man and his
genius. There was a good deal more of Titian than of
Fra Angelico in Handel. For the rapture of spiritual
ecstasy that animates the work of the pious Frate we
ask of Handel in vain, but instead he gives us an all-
embracing sympathy for every manifestation of human
energy, that lifts his work far above sects and dogmas
and makes it the common property of all mankind.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE LATER ORATORIOS
THE production of The Messiah was a turning-point
in Handel's career as a composer of oratorios.
It marks the close of what we may call his first or ex-
perimental period. Handel's first six oratorios all differ
markedly in form. He seems to have been conducting
a series of experiments, without being able to make up
his mind as to which form of oratorio was best suited
to his genius. Esther was originally a masque, frankly
intended for theatrical performance, though its revision
in 1734 naturally brought it more into the shape of
oratorio. Deborah is an epic pure and simple. In
Athaliah there is a return to the dramatic style, which
is carried still further in Saul. Israel and Tlie Messiah,
on the other hand, are more definitely epical in treatment
than Deborah. With The Messiah Handel's experiments
ceased. After producing his two epical masterpieces
he returned to the dramatic style of Satil, to which
he adhered for the rest of his life. The reason for
his decision is not far to seek. Handel was eminently
practical, and his decision to abandon the purely epical
style was probably due in great measure to the com-
parative failure of Israel and, in England if not in Ireland,
of The Messiah. Within due limits, he was fully alive
THE LATER ORATORIOS 303
to the wisdom of consulting popular taste, and doubtless
he recognised as clearly as his audiences that the emotions
of human beings, of like passions with ourselves, were a
good deal more interesting as a subject for artistic treat-
ment than abstract discussions of the dogmas of theology.
At any rate, for the rest of his life he made no more
excursions into purely epical oratorio. The form that
he finally adopted has a good deal in common with
Greek tragedy. The attitude and functions of the chorus
are those of interested and sympathetic spectators who
rarely if ever take part in the action, but punctuate the
various scenes with choral odes of a meditative or gnomic
cast, often deducing a wholesome moral from the events
enacted before their eyes. The long set speeches which
are so important a feature of the Greek drama correspond
more or less accurately to the stately airs of Handelian
oratorio, while the more rapid dialogue or stichomythia
is represented by recitative. Samson, founded as it is
upon Milton's Sajfison Agonistes, which was written in
avowed imitation of an Athenian tragedy, is a particularly
fine instance of the oratorio-form that Handel finally
accepted. In dignity of style it yields to none of Handel's
works, while its dramatic power and the striking contrasts
of character in which it abounds give it a human interest
which is necessarily absent from the works conceived in
a more abstract vein. Newburgh Hamilton's libretto is
a more than tolerable piece of work. He knew his
Milton well, and besides making free use of Samson
Agonistes, he levied occasional contributions upon several
of Milton's other poems, including the Odes " On the
Nativity," " On the Passion," "On Time," and "At a solemn
Musick," the " Epitaph on the Marchioness of Winchester,"
and the translations of the Psalms. The result is a rather
304 HANDEL
surprising piece of patchwork, in which Hamilton's very-
prosaic muse cuts a poor figure in her august company,
though the pedestrian numbers of the poetaster are to
some extent atoned for by the skill with which the
libretto is put together. A skilful piece of work it
unquestionably is, and it is to be believed that Handel
turned with no little satisfaction from the austere abstrac-
tion of TJie Messiah to the varied passions and pulsing life
of Samson. What we may call the background of the
work, the contrast between the idolatrous frivolities of
heathendom and the august solemnity of the worship of
the one true God, was often treated by Handel, but
never with more consummate skill than in Samson. The
Philistine revels are painted in the most glowing colours
and with a special touch of light-hearted and almost
childlike gaiety that differentiates them from Handel's
other excursions into the high places of paganism. In
striking contrast are the nobly dignified choruses allotted
to the Israelites, which are very far from being the
merely conventional expressions of respectable piety to
which in his later oratorios Handel sometimes con-
descended. On the contrary, many of them have a
character peculiarly their own — a kind of rapturous
exaltation which is very difficult to define in words.
This quality I find particularly in the closing chorus,
** Let their celestial concerts all unite," which, beginning
rather dully, seems midway to be touched by some
divine fire and to be uplifted into strange regions of
spiritual ecstasy, and still more markedly in "Then round
about the starry throne," a chorus on which, if I were
condemned to the extremely difficult and unsatisfactory
task of picking out one thing of Handel's as superior to
all else, my choice, would, I think, alight. Samson is, I
THE LATER ORATORIOS 305
think, the most personal of Handel's oratorios, that of
which the subject appealed most strongly to him, and
into which he put most of himself. It is not so much
that his own life was one long war against Philistines, or
that he shared the hero's bodily affliction, though it is
quite possible that at the time when he was writing
Samson he may have had premonitory symptoms of his
approaching blindness. The reason I believe, at the risk
of being thought fanciful, to lie at the roots of Handel's
character. We know but little of Handel's private life,
but everything that has been handed down with regard
to it points to his having been a man of singular personal
purity. In his time obscenity of language and unchastity
of life were regarded as the most venial of sins, but from
the typical faults of the age Handel was entirely free, and
the disgust with which he regarded the sensuality that he
saw rampant around him is, I think, to be read in Samson
by those that have eyes to see. I have already pointed
out how fond Handel was of fixing on a word or a phrase
and making it the text on which to ground a discourse.
In " Then round about the starry throne " he seizes upon
the words, " from all this earthly grossness quit," and
turning as it were with loathing from the sordid and
sensual amours of Samson and Delilah, he lifts his voice
in a triumphant paean in praise of chastity. It is difficult
to describe the extraordinary ecstasy of this chorus. The
music seems to glow with a white heat of rapture. There
is nothing else like it in Handel, nor indeed in any one
else. But the interest of Samson is far from ending here.
The various characters of the drama are sketched with
a masterly touch. Samson, the blind hero, is probably
the most carefully studied figure in the whole range of
Handel's oratorios. In him pathos and dignity are
20
306 HANDEL
mingled with an art that is beyond praise, and the flashes
of the old fire that leap up from the ashes of despair give
a wonderfully vivid touch to the character.
Micah, a figment of the librettist, is merely an excuse
for the contralto solos, but the other personages are all
happily drawn. Delilah, with her false beguiling, forms
an admirable foil to the reverend figure of Manoah, whose
music is a shining example of Handel's unequalled
appreciation of the majesty and pathos of old age. The
bitterness of unavailing sorrow was never set to more
piteous accents than the close of the air, " Thy glorious
deeds," nor has the tender sympathy of a father's love
ever found truer or moving expression than in the
beautiful " How willing my paternal love." In a very
different vein is the masterly sketch of the Philistine
giant Harapha, whose braggart cowardice is drawn with
amazing boldness and vigour in the famous air, " Honour
and arms."
Samson is more familiar to modern hearers than the
majority of Handel's oratorios, but students should be
warned that the abbreviated version now usually per-
formed not only omits a great deal of fine music, but is
arranged in a very happy-go-lucky manner, indeed the
effect of several scenes is seriously marred by remorseless
mutilation. Thus the omission of the solo, " To song and
dance," deprives the ensuing chorus of much of its mean-
ing, and the disappearance of the recitatives in the
marvellous funeral scene at the close of the work, a
masterpiece second only to the corresponding section of
Saul, obscures Handel's carefully studied design, and, by
omitting what we may call the stage-directions, robs the
scene of much of its picturesqueness.
The victory of Dettingen in 1743 drew Handel for
THE LATER ORATORIOS 307
the moment from his oratorios. The Te Deuni and
Anthem that he wrote to celebrate the triumphs of
George 11. are in the sonorous and splendid manner of
his earlier Coronation anthems. The Te Deum in
particular was extravagantly admired and praised during
Handel's lifetime, and in public estimation it took the
place till then held by the Te Detim that he had written
in honour of the Peace of Utrecht thirty years before.
Its pomp and glitter are now a little tarnished by time
but it remains a fine specimen of ringing Handelian
rhetoric.
Semele, Handel's next work, carried him to very
different fields. Congreve's libretto had been published
in 1720, described as an opera, but there seems no
reason to suppose that Handel intended his work for
stage performance. In Semele he put off to a great extent
his " big bow-wow " manner, and produced a work which
has a good deal more in common with Acis and Galatea
than with any of the sacred or semi-sacred oratorios. There
is the same lightness of touch, the same ease and gaiety
of inspiration, and the same sunny background of the
fresh, laughing, pagan life of old Greece. The choruses
are as a rule slighter in construction than was Handel's
wont, and many of them are founded upon sparkling
dance measures. The ravishing love-chorus, " Now Love,
that everlasting boy," is described as alia Hornpipe, and
" Endless pleasure " is a lively gavotte. There is not
much scope for characterisation in Semele. Juno is un-
questionably the most striking figure in the work. Her
jealous fury is painted in vivid colours, and her spiteful
little air, " Above measure," gives a deliciously feminine
touch to her grim personality. The other characters —
the amorous Jupiter, the voluptuous Semele, and a host
3o8 HANDEL
of minor figures — are less interesting on the whole, but
the music of the drowsy god Somnus is very beautiful,
and indeed Semele is full of charming songs, many of
which, such as Semele's " O sleep, why dost thou leave
me," and Jupiter's " Where'er you walk," are still famous.
The score of Semele contains many of Handel's
characteristically picturesque touches. The storm chorus,
" Avert these omens," is a brilliant piece of descriptive
writing, and in another chorus later in the work the
curiously realistic setting of the words, " All our boasted
fire is lost in smoke," is very interesting. One of the
entr'actes paints the sleep of Somnus effectively, and
another gives a vivid picture of Juno's flight from Samos,
while the passage for drums illustrating Jupiter's oath
gives the lie to the often - repeated statement that
Beethoven was the first to raise the drum to the rank
of a solo instrument.
It is easy to believe that so whole-hearted a pagan as
Handel enjoyed to the full the momentary escape that
Semele gave him from sacred subjects, and that he returned
to oratorio with no very great gusto. At any xdle, Joseph is
one of his least inspired efforts. To the present generation
it is almost entirely unknown. It is the only one of Handel's
oratorios that has never been published in vocal score,
and though it is said to have been repeatedly performed
in Berlin during the nineteenth century, there is no record
of it having been given publicly in England since the
death of the composer, though the fine chorus, " Blest be
the man," has been heard more than once at the Handel
Festival. The greater part of the music scarcely leaves
the conventional track which Handel was now beginning
to tread with somewhat mechanical steps, yet Joseph
has its fine moments. There are several choruses of
THE LATER ORATORIOS 309
majestic dignity, and the wedding music is appropriately
festive and jubilant. Here and there, too, occur gems of
melody in Handel's freshest manner, such as the exquisite
pastoral, " The peasant tastes the sweets of life," and the
graceful duet, " What's sweeter than a new-blown rose."
But the finest music in JosepJi is concerned with the
erring brothers. The guilty Simeon has a splendidly
dramatic scena, and the recognition scene is handled with
a masterly touch. But as a whole Joseph is scarcely
worthy of the hand that a few years before had written
Smnson.
The success of Scinele tempted Handel to turn once
more to Greek mythology, and his next work was
Hercules, an adaptation by Thomas Broughton of
Sophocles's noble traged}-, Tlie Women of Trachis.
Hercules stands in the front rank of Handel's works. In
dramatic power and masterly handling of character it
is inferior to nothing that he wrote. In style it leans to
opera rather than to oratorio. The choruses are com-
paratively few, and though striking in their kind depart
widely as a rule from the accepted oratorio standard.
The most remarkable of them are " Jealousy, infernal
pest," a curious study in musical psychology, and the
love-chorus, " Wanton God of amorous fire," which, though
perhaps less engaging than the delicious " Now Love,
that everlasting boy" in Seniele, proves up to the hilt
that Handel, old bachelor as he was, knew uncommonly
well what he was writing about.^
^ In Samuel Butler's notebooks there is a characteristic comment on the
chorus, "Tyrants now no more shall dread," sung when the news of
Hercules's death is announced, which I venture to quote: "The music to
this chorus is written from the tyrants' point of view. This is plain from
the jubilant defiance with which the chorus opens, but becomes still plainer
when the magnificent strain to which he has set the words, 'all fear of
310 HANDEL
But it is in the solo music that the real strength of
Hercules lies. The character of Dejanira is elaborated
with equal vigour and subtlety. Her changing moods
are mirrored in music that gives its true value to every
nuance of feeling. We see her first lamenting the absence
of her lord in the pathetic air, "The world, when day's
career is done," a melody of yearning beauty to which
strange harmonies give an added poignancy. The news
of Hercules's approach banishes her sorrow, and her new-
found happiness breaks forth in the light-hearted strains
of " Begone, my fears." The arrival of Hercules, ac-
companied by the captive princess lole, sows the seeds
of jealousy in Dejanira's bosom. Then follows an inter-
punishment is o'er,' bursts upon us. Here he flings aside all considerations
save that of the gospel of doing whatever we please without having to pay
for it. He remembers himself, however, shortly, and becomes almost
puritanical over ' The world's avenger is no more.' Here he is quite proper.
From a dramatic point of view Handel's treatment of these words must be
condemned for reasons in respect of which Handel is rarely at fault. It
puzzles the listener, who expects the words to be treated from the point of
view of the vanquished slaves, not from that of the tyrants. There is no
pretence that those particular tyrants are not so bad as ordinary tyrants, nor
those particular vanquished slaves not so good as ordinary vanquished slaves,
and unless this has been made clear in some way it is dramatically de
rigueur that the tyrants should come to grief, or be about to come to grief.
The hearer should know which way his sympathies are expected to go, and
here we have the music dragging one way and the words the other.
' ' Nevertheless we pardon the departure from the strict rules of the game,
partly because of the welcome nature of good tidings so exultantly
announced to us about all fear of punishment being over, and partly because
throughout the music is so much stronger than the words that we lose sight
of them almost entirely. Handel probably wrote as he did from a profound,
though perhaps unconscious, perception of the fact that even in his day
there was a great deal of humanitarian nonsense talked, and that after all
the tyrants were generally quite as good sort of people as the vanquished
slaves. Having begun on this tack, it was easy to throw morality to the
winds when he came to the words, ' all fear of punishment is o'er.' "
THE LATER ORATORIOS 311
view with lole, culminating in the bitter irony of " When
beauty sorrow's livery wears." Later comes a long and
carefully wrought scene with Hercules opening with a
masterly song, " Resign thy club," the biting sarcasm of
which is set to music of extraordinary force, and lead-
ing into the wonderful lament, " Cease, ruler of the
day, to shine," which paints the anguish of a wounded
heart in the most moving colours. But all else
pales before the tremendous closing scena, " Where shall
I fly ? " in which the wretched woman, torn by terror
and remorse, strives to hide her guilty head from the
vengeful Furies that encompass her. The concentrated
horror of this passage, wrought as it is to a climax of
amazing power, can hardly be paralleled in the whole
range of Handel's works. By the side of Dejanira the
other characters of the drama sink into comparative
insignificance. Hercules, a typical hero, bluff and beefy,
is only interesting in his final agony, which is a page of
poignant drama. The gentle lole forms a graceful foil
to the passion-tossed Dejanira. Though sketched with a
light touch she is far from being a merely colourless
ingenue. Her beautiful air, " My father," has power as
well as pathos, while the scene in which she " chaffs "
Hyllus is delightfully arch and vivacious. Exquisite, too,
is the air, " My breast with tender pity swells," in which
she endeavours to calm the frenzy of the stricken
Dejanira. After the wild ravings of the guilty princess,
the suave accents of lole fall like balm upon the ear.
The contrast is one of a kind in which Handel specially
delighted, and he has here treated it with a magical
touch ; but Hercules is throughout full of Handel's finest
workmanship, and it is curious that it should be
so little known. Present-day critics, who are always
3 1 2 HANDEL
on the look out for " modern " effects in the works of
the classical masters, would find much in He^xides to
interest them. In particular, it is worth while to call
attention to the curious little symphony that precedes
the third act, a piece of primitive programme music
describing the agony of Hercules in the most realistic
fashion.
With Belshazsar Handel returned once more to the
Old Testament and his trusty Jennens. Belshazzar is in
his stateliest style, abounding in fully developed choruses,
and trusting but little to dramatic interest or play of
character. Of its kind it is a fine example. Handel
rarely surpassed the massive grandeur of such choruses
as " By slow degrees the wrath of God," " See from his
post Euphrates flies," and " Sing, O heavens," to name
but a few out of many. In a very different vein is the
mocking chorus of Babylonians, who from the height of
their impregnable walls deride the vain efforts of the
besiegers below — a passage brimming over with that
peculiarly ironic humour which was characteristic of
Handel. Admirable, too, is the whole scene of Belshazzar's
feast, the insolent arrogance of the king, the drunken
chorus of his lords — one of the most " unbuttoned "
things Handel ever wrote, and full of effects that nobody
would dream of looking for in eighteenth-century music
— and finally the apparition of the hand and the writing
on the wall. This incident is treated with remarkable
power, the terrified cries of the king, the broken utterances
of the chorus, and the curiously descriptive orchestration
all contributing to the general effect. There are many
other interesting points in Belshazzar. Some of the solos
are in Handel's finest manner, notably the solemn " Great
God, who yet but darkly known," which in some
THE LATER ORATORIOS 313
mysterious way conveys an impression of the awe felt by
a heathen in the presence of an unknown God, and the
splendid accompanied recitative, " Thus saith the Lord,"
a particularly fine instance of Handel's employment of a
ground-bass, not, as was so often the case in Purcell's
time, merely as an excuse for a meaningless display of
musical ingenuity, but for the purpose of expressing
a definite poetical idea, in this case the sureness of
the Divine support. I must not forget the overture,
a very fine piece of programme music, painting in
the most picturesque and forcible manner the contrast
between the wild turbulence of the heathen and the
steady faith of the worshippers of God ; nor the
curious little instrumental movement, marked in the
autograph as " Allegro postilions," which describes Bel-
shazzar's messengers riding off post-haste in search of
the wise men who were to interpret the writing on the
wall.
The Occasional Oratorio^ hastily put together to
celebrate the repulse of the Young Pretender, can hardly
be classed as an oratorio in the ordinary sense of the
word. It is rather an anthem on an unusually extended
scale, being nothing but a string of texts from the Psalms
interspersed with songs, and boasting only the most
shadowy apology for a design. Handel used a good deal
of old music in it, and of the new numbers hardly one
reaches his best standard, except perhaps the famous
overture, which through its stirring march has become
familiar to many who have but the vaguest idea what the
occasion was that called it forth. Handel is usually
supposed to have lived before the days of " local colour,"
but in one of the songs in the Occasional Oratorio^ " When
warlike ensigns wave on high," there occurs what looks
314 HANDEL
suspiciously like an imitation of the bagpipes, illustrating
the words : —
" The frighted peasant sees his field
For corn an iron harvest yield ;
No pasture now the plains afford,
And scythes are straightened into swords,"
which very possibly may be intended as a sly reference
to Prince Charlie's southern march, and to the apparition
of the Highland clansmen in the fertile meadows of the
Midlands,
Jjidas MaccahcBus was in every way a nobler tribute
to the victor of Culloden than the Occasional Oratoj^io.
Its martial ardour has endeared it to many generations
of Englishmen, and it is still one of the most popular of
Handel's oratorios. This, however, is by no means the
same as saying that it is one of the best. As a matter of
fact it is inferior to many far less famous works. It is
totally devoid of anything like characterisation, and its
subject ties it down to the expression of none but the
simplest emotions of joy and grief, so that with all its
directness and vigour it tends decidedly to monotony.
What is worse is, that in Judas, more than in any of his
other oratorios, Handel lies open to the charge of writing
clap-trap. There are magnificent things scattered over
the score of Judas, superb choruses like " We never will
bow down," " Fall'n is the foe," and " Sion now her head
shall raise," and a few solo numbers of rare beauty, such
as " Pious orgies " and " O lovely peace," but there is far
too much music of the type of " Sound an alarm," and
" The Lord worketh wonders," for which the best that
can be said is that their energy makes some amends for
lack of inspiration.
Handel himself seems to have been fully alive to the
THE LATER ORATORIOS 315
inferiority of Judas. His observation upon " See the
conquering hero comes" (though this was subsequently
borrowed from Joshua) has already been quoted, and a
further record has been preserved which amounts to a
practical confession that he was guilty of writing down to
the level of an uneducated taste : " A gentleman whom he
had desired to look over Judas MaccabcBus having
declared his opinion of it, ' Well,' said Handel, ' to be
sure you have picked out the best songs, but you take no
notice of that which is to get me all the money,' meaning
the worst in the whole oratorio." As a matter of fact,
Handel was totally lacking in the false pride that hinders
a man from admitting his failures and deficiencies. He
was walking one day in Marylebone Gardens with a
reverend friend of his, named Fountayne, when the band
struck up a piece of music. " Come, Mr. Fountayne," said
Handel, " let us sit down and listen to this piece ; I want
to know your opinion of it." Down they sat, and after
some time the old parson, turning to his companion, said,
" It is not worth listening to, it is very poor stuff." " You
are right, Mr. Fountayne," said Handel, " it is very poor
stuff. I thought so myself when I had finished it." The
old gentleman, being taken by surprise, was beginning to
apologise, but Handel assured him there was no neces-
sity, for the music was really bad, having been com-
posed hastily, his time for its production having been
limited, and that the opinion given was as correct as it
was honest.^ Handel, on the other hand, was ready to
fight tooth and nail against what he thought was unin-
telligent criticism. One day his librettist Morell com-
plained that the music of one of Handel's airs did not
suit his words, whereupon Handel flew into a passion and
^ Smith, History of the Parish of Marylebone, 1833.
3 1 6 HANDEL
cried, " What, you teach me music ! The music, sir, is
good music. It is your words is bad. Hear the passage
again. There ! go you and make words to that music."
Alexander Balus, though lacking in the qualities that
captivate the vulgar ear in Judas, is in many ways a more
remarkable work. To the musician indeed and to the
student it is one of Handel's most interesting compositions,
for the Oriental background tempted him to curious ex-
periments in orchestration which often yield surprising
results in the way of local colour. The libretto, which
deals with the love of Alexander Balus, the King of Syria,
for Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy Philometor, who is
quite a different person from the " Serpent of old Nile,"
is not particularly promising, but Handel contrived to
infuse a good deal of life into the rather spectral characters.
The youthful Alexander has some charming music,
notably the delightful "O Mithra," one of the freshest
and most ardent love-songs ever written, with a curious
pulsating figure in the accompaniment which seems to
indicate the haste of the young lover in flying to his
mistress's feet. Cleopatra's music is among the most
original that Handel ever produced, and seems to belong
to a totally different world from the very conventional
and commonplace songs in Judas Maccabcsus, From her
opening song, " Hark, hark, he strikes the golden lyre," to
which a curiously exotic colour is given by an accompani-
ment of flutes, harp, and mandoline, to her marvellous
death-song, "Convey me to some peaceful shore" — so
different in its stoical resignation, illumined by no gleam
of faith in a hereafter, from the rapture of exaltation with
which a Theodora meets her doom — every note allotted
to Cleopatra is worth careful study. One of her loveliest
passages is a scene in the woods, in which her reverie
THE LATER ORATORIOS 317
among the whispering trees and murmuring brooks is
interrupted by a band of brigands who carry her off into
captivity, her wild cries for help dying slowly on the ear
as she is borne away. Singularly beautiful, too, is her
marriage duet with Alexander, " Hail, wedded love," which
seems to breathe a strange intensity of nuptial fervour.
The other characters are more slightly drawn, Jonathan
is a typical Hebrew, whose music is solemn and dignified
without possessing any specially definite features, but
Ptolemy is cleverly sketched. There is all the smooth
duplicity of an Oriental statesman in his opening song,
though later he shows himself in his true colours, and
storms and threatens in the accepted tyrannical manner.
Few of the choruses are in Handel's stately big-wig style.
He seems to have felt the relief of getting for once out of
his pious groove, and in Alexander Balus his heathen are
quite as fresh and vigorous as in Samson. There is a
curiously barbaric ring about the opening chorus, " Flushed
with conquest," and the wedding music is very gay and
spirited. The finest chorus in the work, however, is " O
calumny," which is dragged in by the hilt a propos de
bottes, obviously because of the success of the Envy and
Jealousy choruses in Saul and Hercules respectively, but
oddly as it occurs is none the less a marvellous piece of
writing, weirdly grim and gloomy in feeling, and altogether
one of the " creepiest " things Handel ever wrote,
Joshua seems to have been an attempt to repeat the
popular success oi Judas Maccabceus, but like most sequels it
fell far below its predecessor, Judas^ with all its faults, was
eminently spirited and energetic, hut Joshua is depressingly
flat and tame. Here and there occurs a touch of the true
Handelian fire, as in the magnificent chorus, " Glory to
God," in which the tottering towers and strong-cemented
3 1 8 HANDEL
walls of Jericho tumble to dust and ruin, and the amaz-
ingly fresh and vigorous " See, the conquering hero comes,"
one of those brave immortal things upon which the touch
of Time is powerless. There are delicious little bits of
landscape-painting, too, in Joshua, such as Caleb's song,
" Shall I in Mamre's fertile plain ? " with its wonderful
suggestion of the far-away patriarchal life of the Old
Testament, or the pleasant murmur of the waters in
" While Kedron's brook," and the cool refreshing showers
in " As cheers the sun." But some of the best songs are
transplanted from earlier works. " O had I Jubal's lyre "
is an adaptation of a song in a setting of the psalm
Laudate pueri, dating from the old days at Halle, and
" Heroes when with glory burning " is taken from
Agrippina. On the whole, Joshua is of all the oratorios
that upon which the lover of Handel is least inclined to
linger.
If the flame of Handel's inspiration sank rather low
m Joshua, it burned up as brightly as ever in Solomon and
Susanna. Each of these two great works is a masterpiece
in its way, yet there is hardly a point of resemblance
between them. One of the most remarkable examples
of Handel's versatility is his power of clothing each of
his great choral works in an atmosphere peculiar to itself,
and it would not be easy to find better instances of this
than are afforded by Solomon and Susa?ina. Solomon is
a work of pomp and circumstance. There is comparatively
little in the libretto that calls for emotional power
or for minute character - drawing. It is a glitter-
ing picture of the gorgeous court of the Jewish
monarch, set forth in a series of choruses of superb
breadth and grandeur. The music breathes of splendour
and magnificence. There are many touches in the oratorio
THE LATER ORATORIOS 319
to relieve what might otherwise become the oppressive
gorgeousness of the general texture of the work. There
is the delicious love-music, and one would have to ransack
Handel's works to find a tenderer love-song than " With
thee the unsheltered moor I'd tread," or a more voluptuous
chorus than " May no rash intruder." Excellent, too, is
the incident of the judgment of Solomon, in which the
characters of the two women are contrasted with the
utmost subtlety, and there are several little nature-pictures
in Handel's daintiest manner, such as " Beneath the vine
and fig-tree's shade," and " How green our fertile pastures
look," fragrant with the charm of rippling waters and
murmuring breezes. But the final impression of the work
is one of rich, even barbaric, splendour. It is like a series
of gorgeously coloured frescoes in some wondrous palace
of the East.
Susanna, on the other hand, is a picture of village life.
It is painted in a scheme of quietly modulated colours.
Many of the songs, like the Purcellian " Ask if yon
damask rose be sweet," or the tender little love-ditty,
" Ye verdant hills," or, most beautiful of all, the deliciously
tuneful " Would custom melt," have almost a feeling of
folk-music. The action of the story takes place during
the captivity of the Jews in Babylonia, but only the
opening chorus, written on what is practically the same
ground-bass as that used by Purcell in Dido's death-song,
and by Bach in the " Crucifixus " of the Mass in B minor,
suggests anything like regret for a lost fatherland. The
music for the most part is designedly simple in structure.
Much of it is light, and at. times almost humorous, as in
the pretty little chorus in which the village gossips discuss
Susanna's trial among themselves in whispered chatter.
The last chorus again, in which the moral of the story is
320 HANDEL
set forth in strains of enchanting simpHcity, might well
have served as a model to Mozart when he wrote the
" Vaudeville " at the end of his Entfuhnmg aus dem Serail.
Yet Susanna has its grand moments as well. " Righteous
Heaven" is one of Handel's most stupendous choruses,
and the scene between Susanna and the elders is treated
with much dramatic power. The elders themselves are
cleverly differentiated, the one sly and sentimental and
the other violent and passionate, and Susanna's character,
rising as she does under stress of circumstances to some-
thing very like heroism, is drawn with consummate art.
Theodora is a work that has never won a tithe of
the consideration that it deserves. Handel himself
thought very highly of it, and it is plain that he took
unusual pains with it, and was proportionately mortified
at its want of success. The weak point of Theodora is its
dull libretto, one of Morell's most pedestrian productions,
which all Handel's genius hardly sufficed to vitalise.
The characters are the merest pasteboard, and even
Handel could not turn them into human beings. On
Theodora herself he expended untold pains. Many of her
airs are exceedingly beautiful. Some of them, such as
the great prison-scene with its curious and highly original
little symphonies, are so elaborate as to suggest to certain
critics that Handel had been studying Bach before writing
Theodora. Others, like " Angels ever bright and fair," and
*' The Pilgrim's home," are in his simplest and most
melodious manner, but the result somehow leaves one
cold. The other characters are no less carefully treated —
the sympathetic Irene and the ardent Didimus, Valens the
black-hearted tyrant, and Septimius, the " friendly, social "
pagan, who cannot understand why people worry about
religion instead of enjoying themselves. The music
THE LATER ORATORIOS 321
they are called upon to sing is often intrinsically fine,
but one and all they are merely types ; there is no growth
in them, and they are just the same at the close of the
drama as at the beginning. The more generalised
emotions of the chorus gave Handel a better chance.
Often as he was called upon to set heathen ceremonial
to music, he never repeated himself, and in Theodora he
reproduced the frozen elegance of Roman ritual with
signal success. The very Purcellian " Queen of Summer "
is a model of clear-cut symmetry, and " Venus laughing
from the skies " is no less perfect in its way as a picture
of purely soulless religion. Handel's heathen are
invariably so delightful that his Christians (or Jews) are
often rather cast into the shade, but in TJieodo7'a they
are very well treated. " He saw the lovely youth," which
the composer ranked above the Hallelujah chorus in The
Messiah, is one of Handel's masterpieces, designed with
graphic decision, and elaborated with loving skill. Very
remarkable, too, with its atmosphere of brooding mystery,
is " How strange their ends," while the closing chorus,
so different in spirit from the usual jubilant oratorio finale,
keeps up to the end the air of peculiar distinction which
is the special property of Theodora. In this there is a
wonderfully characteristic Handelian touch in the sudden
burst of exaltation at the words, " That we the glorious
spring may know," which seems like the sun breaking
forth at noonday to dispel the mists of melancholy that
gather round the sombre opening of the chorus.
The " musical interlude," The Choice of Hercules, was
written with the eminently practical object of filling up
the evening's programme, of which the remainder was
supplied by Alexander's Feast. In it Handel used up a
great deal of the incidental music that he had composed
322 HANDEL
a few months before for Smollett's Alceste. It is one
of the least known of his choral works, and though the
Alceste music has been performed in recent years by the
Handel Society, TJie Choice of Hercules is still buried in
undeserved oblivion. It contains several lovely songs
and one really magnificent chorus, " Virtue shall place
thee in that blest abode," which alone should recommend
the work to musicians.
Jephtha worthily closed the long series of Handel's
oratorios. It is, in a sense, the summing-up of his career,
exhibiting as it does to a great extent in its own compass
the diverse merits that characterise its various pre-
decessors. Many of the airs in Jephtha have the freshness
and sparkle of Handel's early youth, and some of its
choruses emulate the stupendous majesty of Israel in
Egypt and Solomo7z, while in psychological subtlety and
fineness of character-drawing Jephtha is on a level with
Samson. Long experience had by this time given
Handel an extraordinary certainty of touch, and the big
effects in Jephtha " come off" with a sort of Nasmyth-
hammerlike inevitability. Perhaps it would be hyper-
critical to say that this very certainty of touch occasionally
gives an impression of something that might be called
mechanical, but on the other hand there are many traces
in Jephtha of a romantic feeling which is rarely met with
in the work of a composer nearly seventy years of age.
The subject of Jephtha is one of the most striking that
Handel ever undertook ; it is only unfortunate that the
librettist, in deference to the fashion of the time, thought
it necessary to introduce a foolish and quite superfluous
love-interest, which adds nothing to the pathos of the
situation, and obscures the main outline of the tragedy.
Jephtha is one of Handel's most equal and sustained
THE LATER ORATORIOS 323
works. There are very few of those lapses into fluent
commonplace which disfigure some of its predecessors.
The choruses are exceptionally strong. The Moloch
chorus at the beginning, with its "dismal dance around
the furnace blue," is a particularly vivid musical picture
of heathendom, while for sheer picturesqueness Handel
never surpassed his great seascape, " When His loud voice
in thunder spoke," with its boisterous surges and lashing
billows. " How dark, O Lord, are Thy decrees," is a
masterpiece of solemn grandeur, and " Cherub and
seraphim " soars to unaccustomed heights of pure
romance. The solo music is even more interesting.
Each one of the characters, save the intrusive Hamor,
who has really nothing to do with the plot, is elaborated
with the most loving care. Particularly striking is the
manner in which the development of the character of
I phis, as the librettist . chose to christen Jephtha's
daughter, is indicated. We see her first as a light-hearted
girl, whose youthful gaiety finds charming expression in
the pretty Bourree, " The smiling dawn." Misfortune
brings out the true nobility of her character. Resigna-
tion to the will of Heaven is the note of her lovely air,
" Happy they," and her farewell to earth, " Farewell, ye
limpid springs," seems to rise into wondrous regions of
rapturous ecstasy. Jephtha is a still profounder study.
His rapid changes of mood are painted with marvellous
skill. Unfortunately the modern trick of linking the
recitative, " Deeper and deeper still," to the air, " Waft
her, angels," plays complete havoc with Handel's carefully
wrought psychology. The two numbers have really
nothing to do with each other. The recitative paints the
conflict of Jephtha's emotions when he realises that his vow
is to cost his daughter her life. The air comes at a later
324 HANDEL
stage, when anguish has given place to resignation. It
forms the conckision of a great scena of which the opening
movement, " Hide thou thy hated beams, O sun," touches
the depths of gloom and despair, while the succeeding
air, " Waft her, angels," is illumined by a ray of curious
exaltation. The much-tried hero seems to realise in a
dim way the wonderful conception, which was familiar to
Greek minds, that in uttermost misery there is an element
of beauty. Heavy fathers, as theatrical people call them,
are common enough in Handel's oratorios, but the heavy
mother is a rare bird. Storge is a fine specimen of the
species, and her music is highly individual and character-
istic. " Scenes of horror " is a very striking and dramatic
scena, and " First perish thou " is a wonderful burst of
passionate indignation.
During the last years of Handel's life his blindness
proved a serious hindrance to composition, and he wrote
little but a few additional numbers to grace the revival
of some of his oratorios. The merit of these proves con-
clusively that the failure of his sight involved no corre-
sponding failure of imaginative or technical power, indeed
" Sion now her head shall raise," which was composed for
a revival of Judas Maccabcsus, and is said by Burney to
have been absolutely the last thing that Handel wrote,
is in his stateliest and most exalted mannei-. One other
task occupied his declining years, the revisal of his early
oratorio, // Trionfo del Tempo e della Veritd. This work,
it will be remembered, was written during his stay in Rome
in 1708. It was revised and enlarged, and, still in its
Italian dress, produced in 1737. In 1757 a translation
of the 1737 version was made by Dr. Morell, for which
Handel wrote several new numbers and adapted others
from earlier works, principally from Parnasso in Festa,
THE LATER ORATORIOS 325
which contributed the delightfully fresh and open-air
choruses of hunters and dryads. In its final version, there-
fore, The Triumph of Time and Truth is uniquely interest-
ing, as covering practically the whole course of Handel's
activity, and it thus forms as it were a summing-up of his
career as a musician.
It is curious, considering over how wide an interval
its composition extended, that the work should exhibit so
little discrepancy of style, but the fact that it is totally
devoid of dramatic interest, and deals for the most part
only with the lighter side of life, naturally narrows its
range to sharply defined limits. Nevertheless, though it
cannot be accepted as a representative work, TJie Triumph
of Time and TrutJi has qualities of rare distinction, and
it is significant that several of the new numbers, such as
the delicious minuet, " Come, live with pleasure," are at
least as conspicuous for youthful freshness and charm as
those that were written when the composer was scarcely
out of his teens.
But those whom the gods love, if they do not always
die young, at least seem never to grow old, and it is
pleasant to think that Handel, though bowed down by
affliction, retained his lightness of heart and serenity of
temperament to the end, and, like Rembrandt in his latest
portrait, bade farewell to the world with a smiling face.
CHAPTER XIX
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS
HANDEL'S instrumental works, in spite of their
many beauties, appeal far less strongly to the
present generation than anything else that he wrote. The
growth of musical form, the development of the orchestra,
and the invention of the pianoforte have combined so
completely to revolutionise public taste since his day, that
a far greater mental effort is necessary to grasp Handel's
point of view as exemplified in his sonatas and concertos
than is the case with regard to his oratorios or even to his
operas. To modern ears the instrumental music of the
early eighteenth century speaks in a language that is now
obsolete, and a certain amount of preliminary study is
necessary before its meaning can be thoroughly grasped.
Instrumental music has made such rapid strides since the
days of the Georges that, though less than two hundred
years separate Handel from Richard Strauss, they seem
to us as far apart as is Chaucer from Browning. A some-
what similar intellectual exercise is demanded in each
case if the modern student desires to enter into the
heritage bequeathed by the older master, and in Handel's
case no less than in Chaucer's the labour of mastering the
dialect in which he wrote brings its own reward.
The earliest instrumental work of Handel's that has
326
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS 327
survived is the set of trios for two hautboys and harp-
sichord, which is said by Chrysander to have been written
in 1696 in the composer's eleventh year. If it was really
written at that age it is an amazing proof of Handel's pre-
cociousness, for though it discloses few traces of originality,
the workmanship is skilful and singularly free from the
weakness and irresolution of childhood.
The advance on these boyish works shown in the
harpsichord suites, the first set of which was published
in 1720, is naturally very great. The latter were enorm-
ously popular in Handel's lifetime, and many of them still
hold their place in public estimation by the side of Bach's
similar works. Handel's harpsichord music is admittedly
unequal. At its worst it is the kind of fluent common-
place that almost any composer of the time could reel off
by the yard, but at its best it has all the great and dis-
tinguished qualities that we admire in his choral works.
The first set of suites is perhaps the strongest. It is full
of good things, and there are hardly any weak places in
it. The air with variations, which is known as " The
Harmonious Blacksmith," is of course the most famous
thing that Handel, or indeed anybody else, wrote for the
harpsichord, but it is far inferior to much that surrounds it.
The fugue that opens the E minor suite, with its three
defiant hammer-blows, is superb, and another splendid
movement is the " Overture " to the suite in G minor.
Some of the AUemandes and Courantes are now getting
a little musty, but the gigues are almost always first-rate.
That in the suite in A is particularly jovial, and those in
E minor and F sharp minor are very nearly as good,
while the whole of the F major suite, with its pensive
introduction, lively allegro, and brilliant fugue, is as fresh
and delightful as on the day that it was written.
328 HANDEL
The second book opens magnificently with the wonder-
ful prelude to the suite in B flat, one of the most romantic
things Handel ever wrote. Samuel Butler chose it as an
illustration of the moaning of the statues in Ei'ewhon,
and there is indeed something almost unearthly in its
wild weird chords. The rest of the collection contains
nothing that can be compared to this marvellous piece.
Many of the dance movements are charmingly graceful,
and the gigues are invariably vigorous, but the intermin-
able variations are rather wearisome. The third book,
which was not published during Handel's lifetime, is a
very miscellaneous collection. Some of the pieces date
from Handel's early youth, and others are obviously
written for childish performers, probably for the young
princesses or for other aristocratic performers. Far finer
are the six fugues, which were published in 1735. They
are shining examples of Handel's smoothly flowing
counterpoint. Two of them he subsequently used in
Israel in Egypt, the first as " He smote all the first-born
in Egypt," and the fifth as " They loathed to drink of the
waters." The fourth had already done duty in the over-
ture to the Brockes Passion. The last of the set has a
grave beauty which gives it a character all its own.
Samuel Butler refers to it in his Way of All Flesh, quoting
the subject as a suitable epitaph for " an old man who was
very sorry for things." A better description of it could
not be devised.
Handel's sonatas for violin and other instruments
accompanied by the harpsichord, though not so well
known to musicians as his harpsichord suites, are still by
no means forgotten. A set of twelve was published in
1732, and others taken from various sources bring the
total up to nineteen. At what date they were composed
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS 329
is not certainly known. Chrysander attributes the
beautiful sonata for viola da gamba to the year 1705, since
it is known that the gamba was a favourite instrument
in Hamburg at that time. The hautboy sonatas may
possibly date from still earlier times, when Handel,
according to his own account, composed for that instru-
ment " like a devil." The violin sonatas were very likely
written for Dubourg, who played Handel's music at
concerts as early as 1719,^ or perhaps for the Prince of
Wales, who took lessons from Dubourg about 1730.
Many of these sonatas are delightfully fresh and
melodious. The first of the two sonatas in A is still
popular, and those in E and D are occasionally to be
heard in twentieth century concert-rooms. The Allegro
of the latter is a kind of preliminary sketch for the chorus,
" Live for ever, pious David's son," in Solomon, and in
several other movements occur reminiscences of works
already written or foreshadowings of those that were to
come.
Two sets of trios, for various combinations of instru-
ments, published respectively in 1733 and 1739, also
exist. The first follows the general lines of the early
Halle set of trios, as far as form is concerned, though
naturally with a far greater degree of technical skill and
melodic invention. Many of these trios are indeed of
singular beauty and expressive power. The first of the
set, which is written for flute, violin, and harpsichord,
has a slow movement of wonderfully tranquil loveliness
followed by an allegro, founded upon the highly
expressive melody associated with the words, " Why so
^ The Daily Cotirant of i6th February 1719 refers to a new concerto,
" compos'd by Mr. Hendel, and perform'd by Mr. Dubourg at Hickford's
great Room in James Street."
330 HANDEL
full of grief, O my soul," in one of the Chandos anthems,
which is worked up to a climax of remarkable force.
Another is a transcription of the overture to Esther^
ingeniously modified to suit its altered circumstances,
while every one of the set presents some points of interest.
The 1739 trios are rather lighter in style, dance move-
ments being employed with greater frequency. On the
whole they resemble the concertos in form rather than
the earlier set of trios, and there is a more pronouncedly
orchestral feeling about them. This is particularly the
case with No. 4, which is an adaptation of the overture to
Athaliak, with the addition of a Passacaglia and other
dances, and it is difficult to believe that certain other
movements, such as the march in the second sonata, can
really have been intended for solo instruments.
An interesting point about Handel's solo sonatas and
trios, to which attention has not, I think, been sufficiently
drawn, is their value as links in the chain of the develop-
ment of what is called sonata-form. It is the fashion,
nowadays, especially with critics who have never taken
the trouble to study his works, to repeat the old parrot-
cry that Handel did not further the advance of music in
any respect. I have already pointed out how groundless
is this accusation in respect of oratorio. With regard to
chamber music it is no less false. Much of Handel's
chamber music is, in point of form, strikingly in advance
of his time, and it is curious that his leaning towards
modern methods should have been so little remarked by
historians in their investigation of the beginnings of
sonata-form. In many of his sonatas there are move-
ments which within a comparatively brief compass
conform strictly to the general outlines of sonata-form.
The second movements of two of his best known sonatas.
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS 331
those in A and D, are good instances, and the second
movement of the sonata in C minor for flute and violin
(Op. 7, No. i) is another. But throughout Handel's
chamber music the tendency towards sonata-form is often
to be traced in the most unmistakable fashion.
Considerably more important than his chamber works
are the concertos which Handel wrote for various com-
binations of instruments. The concerto of the early
eighteenth century was, it need hardly be said, a very
different thing from the concerto of modern times.
Handel's use of the form differs considerably from Bach's.
Save in the case of the organ he wrote very few concertos
for a solo instrument. The main characteristic of his
concertos lies in the contrast between a small group of
solo instruments, technically called the concertino, and a
string band, called the ripieno. In his first set of Concerti
Grossi, which were published in the year 1734, the dis-
position of instruments varies very much. Now and then
we get a movement in which one solo instrument pre-
dominates, but as a rule the concertino is a group of two
or more instruments. Thus in the first of the six con-
certos, the concertino of the opening movement consists of
two hautboys and a violin ; in the second movement
two flutes are added and one of the hautboys is silent ;
while the third movement returns to the original arrange-
ment. These Concerti Grossi are popularly known as the
" Hautboy " concertos, from the prominent part assigned to
the hautboys. The title, however, is decidedly misleading
to modern ears, as there is very little actual solo work for
a single hautboy, save in a few isolated movements, such
as the lovely Largo in the second concerto, and the
Andante in the fourth. There is a more decided approx-
imation to the modern manner of treating the solo
332 HANDEL
instrument in a second set of Conccrti Grossi, published
by Walsh in 1741, together with works by Veracini and
Tartini, under the title Select Harmony^ and in a couple
of concertos, dating from a much earlier time, which were
published by Chrysander in vol. xxi. of his edition of
Handel's works. The Concerti Grossi are among the most
attractive of Handel's instrumental works. They are as a
rule light and even gay in sentiment, the slow movements
being usually short, and in some cases omitted altogether.
The allegro movements are among Handel's most vigorous
efforts, and the dance movements, of which there are not
a few, are invariably charming. Several movements are
familiar to those who know their Handel well, being
adapted or transcribed from earlier works, according to
a fashion common at the time, to which Handel was
particularly addicted.
The twelve " Grand " concertos for strings, which
were written in 1739 and published in 1740, are on afar
more imposing scale. Six of the concertos have five
movements and four have six, and they are all planned
upon a scale of grandeur and dignity that differentiates
them entirely from the " Hautboy " concertos. They are
written for strings alone, of course accompanied by the
harpsichord, as was the universal practice in Handel's
day, and the coficertino in each instance is composed of
two violins and a violoncello, contrasted with the ripieno
band of strings. With these modest materials Handel
produced effects often of surprising grandeur, varied by
the touches of exquisite lightness and grace. In fact, one
of the most striking features of the " Grand " concertos is
the varied colour and feeling which Handel, in spite of
all limitations, contrived to infuse into them. Not only
with regard to changes of key — a point in which he
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS 333
proved himself far more advanced than Bach — but by
novel arrangements of the movements, he sought with
signal success to avoid the charge of monotony so often
levelled against works for strings alone. The ninth
concerto is a good average specimen of Handel's treat-
ment of the form. It opens with a magnificently solemn
and dignified introduction, Largo, f , in F major, leading
into a vigorous Allegro, C, in the same key. To this
succeeds a graceful Siciliana, Larghetto, f , in D minor,
leading into a splendidly forcible fugue in F major.
Allegro, C. Then comes a dainty little minuet in F
minor, f , and the concerto ends with a brilliant gigue in F
major, ^. It is curious, considering how much popularity
Bach's suites now enjoy, that these concertos of Handel
should be so seldom performed. But at no time have
they equalled in popularity the organ concertos, of which
Burney observed that " public players on keyed instru-
ments, as well as private, totally subsisted on these
concertos for near thirty years." The first set of organ
concertos was published in 1738, and the second, which
was largely made up of arrangements of the " Grand "
concertos, in 1740. A third set, which consisted mainly of
original music, was published a year after Handel's death
under the title of Op. 7. Handel's organ music is disap-
pointing to those who come to it fresh from Bach. It
must be remembered, however, that his organ concertos
in their printed form represent but the skeleton, as it
were, of the works as conceived and executed by the
composer. His talent for improvisation was admitted by
all who heard him to be extraordinary, and it was his
custom to grace his concertos with long extempore
passages, for which the printed notes served but as the
foundation. We must bear in mind, too, the difference
334 HANDEL
that existed in Handel's time between English and
German organs. Until the end of the eighteenth century
the organ in St. Paul's Cathedral, on which Handel de-
lighted to play as a young man, was the only one in the
country that boasted a pedal-board. In writing his organ
concertos, therefore, Handel was compelled to restrict
himself to the manuals, and was thus driven to compose
in a style which, though flexible and brilliant, seems
slight and thin by the side of the massive splendour of
Bach. It must be further remembered that Handel's
organ concertos, as well as those written for other instru-
ments, were intended for concert use, whereas Bach's
organ music was primarily dedicated to the service of the
church. Handel's concertos formed part and parcel of
his oratorios, which indeed first called them into being, and
were responsible for their very existence. It is hardly
fair, therefore, to treat them as independent works, or to
demand from them what we find, let us say, in Haydn's
symphonies, the earliest of which were composed about
the time of Handel's death. Handel's main design in
writing his concertos was to afford a pleasant relief to his
hearers between the acts of an oratorio, to lull them with
the sheer beauty of sound, much as Euripides used the
perfect music of his choral odes to soothe the nerves of
his audience, strained to bursting-point by the poignant
emotions of a tragedy. Did we know for what context
each concerto was designed we might trace in it an echo
of the scenes that it neighboured. But with regard to
most of the concertos no such tradition has survived.
We know that the organ concerto in B flat (No. 3 of the
J ^4 third act) was so much associated in the popular mind
with Esther that the minuet in it was commonly known
as the minuet in Esther, but the rest is silence. It
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS 335
would be exceedingly interesting to know something
about the provenance of the so-called " Cuckoo and
Nightingale" concerto (No. 2 of the second set). It is
an adaptation of one of the " Grand " concertos, but the
passages imitating the notes of the cuckoo and nightingale
were added in the later version. There are very few
instances in Handel's instrumental music of directly
imitative music of this kind. His oratorios aad operas
are, of course, full of it, either in the shape of dramatic
symphonies, like those illustrating the pangs of the dying
Hercules and the mad haste of Belshazzar's postilions, or
as reproductions of the sights and sounds of nature in
the accompaniments to songs. This concerto, however,
stands as much alone among the works of Handel as
does the Pastoral Symphony among Beethoven's, and it
is curious that the two great composers, who had so little
else in common, should join hands over their common
love for the outdoor world.
In one other point Handel may be said to have given
a hint to Beethoven, namely, in concluding an instru-
mental work with a chorus. In the British Museum there
exists an autograph of the fourth organ concerto, to which
is appended an Alleluia chorus, founded upon a theme in
the concerto. It was written in 1735, and was used as
the conclusion to the oratorio, // Trionfo del Tempo e
della Veritd, which was revived in an amended form in
1737.
The most famous instrumental work that Handel ever
wrote is unquestionably the Water Music. It undoubtedly
owes a good deal of its notoriety to the circumstances of
its production,^ but its intrinsic beauty is quite sufficient
to account for its popularity. Handel's dance music is
1 See p. 73.
336 HANDEL
always delightful, and the sparkling series of movements
that he wrote for George I's water-party are in his freshest
and gayest manner. Somewhat less interesting, though
no less well adapted for open-air performance, is the Fire-
works Music which he composed for the celebration of the
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1749.^ Both works indeed
bear convincing testimony to Handel's cleverness in
adapting his style to the exigencies of the occasion, and
to the forces that he had at his disposition.
Handel's other instrumental works must be briefly
dismissed. Reference has already been made in various
places to the overtures and other instrumental movements
that adorn his operas and oratorios, but a few general
observations may find place here. Handel borrowed the
form of overture that had been invented by Lulli and
improved by Scarlatti, and used it with but little altera-
tion until the close of his career. He soon left his models
far behind. It is not too much to say that the overture
to Alniira is finer than anything that had been written
up to that date, and as his touch grew firmer and his
knowledge of musical effect profounder, Handel soon
surpassed the boyish efforts of his Hamburg days. It
has often been said by musical historians who are in too
great a hurry to read the works that they criticise, that
Handel's overtures are all alike, and that one would do
just as well as another as an introduction to any of the
operas or oratorios. A very small amount of research
will bring an unprejudiced student to a precisely opposite
conclusion. I will not say that in the case of some of the
operas which deal with similar subjects the substitution
of one overture for another would be attended with fatal
results. Working as he did at headlong speed, Handel
^ See p. 200.
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS 337
had not always time or inclination for psychological
subtlety, but as a rule it will be found that his overtures
fit the works that they precede a good deal more closely
than our historians suspect. Usually it is only the general
tone of the work that is reproduced, as in the case of The
Messiah, where the solemn reticence of the treatment is
duly foreshadowed in the overture, or of Susanna, in which
the overture gives a foretaste of the village life that forms
the background of the oratorio. In other works the idea
of a unity of atmosphere is worked out more fully. The
overture to The Triumph of Time and Truth gives a brief
compendium of the struggle between duty and pleasure
that forms the theme of the oratorio — pleasure, as is usual
with Handel, being painted in far more agreeable colours
than her grave antagonist. The overture to the Occasional
Oratorio sails nearer to the boundaries of programme
music. It must be a very dull listener who does not read
in that stirring piece the whole history of the war that
formed Handel's subject — the mustering of troops for
battle, the lament over the fallen, and the triumphant
return of the victors.
In the overture to the second act of Admcto, which
precedes the descent of Alcestis to the shades, we get a
striking tone-picture of the gloomy regions of death,
extraordinarily modern in feeling, though fugal in
structure. The overture to Deborah, again, in which
melodies from the work itself are used, gives a complete
and graphic picture of the struggle between the Israelites
and their heathen foes in the manner that is usually sup-
posed to have originated at a much later date. Enough
has been perhaps said to show that Handel's overtures
are by no means so monotonously uniform in style as is
generally affirmed, and the symphonies and other instru-
338 HANDEL
mental movements which occur in his operas and oratorios
are no less interesting. Many of them are wonderfully
vivid pieces of musical painting, and show Handel's genius
in a light that is unfamiliar to modern musicians. Such
passages as the sleep of Somnus in Seniele, and the moon-
rise in Ariodante, to name but two instances out of many,
form an important link in the history of programme
music.
Mention should be made for the sake of completeness
of the set of dance tunes which Handel wrote, or rather
adapted from Rodrigo, for the revival of Ben Jonson's
Alchymisf under John Rich at Covent Garden Theatre in
1732, and of the music of Terpsichore^ a ballet that he
composed in 1734 for Mile. Salle. Handel's dance music
is almost invariably fresh and charming, and even when
he is in his lightest mood his grand manner never deserts
him. His instrumental music is now sadly out of fashion,
and it would probably be impossible to expect the average
twentieth century concert-goer to take much interest in it.
But to those who have mastered the Handelian idiom its
beauty appears eternally new, and its unfailing dignity
and loftiness of style recall the words in which Edward
FitzGerald summed up his opinion of Handel : " His is
the music for a great active people."
APPENDIX A
Merlini's Letter to Ferdinand dei Medici
Roma, 24 Settemhre 1707
" Serenissima Altezza, — Essendo costume degnissimo
di V.A.S., che ha il suo grand' animo ornato di tutte le
virtu, di far scelta de' virtuosi piu rinomati in tutte le
occasioni che se le appresentano di porre in lodata e
dilettevole prova il lor valore : molto e doveroso che sia
noto alia medesima S.A.V. un germe novello quale e un
giovinetto di anni tredici Romano, che in eta si tenera
tocca r arciliuto con fondamento e franchezza tale che
postegli innanzi compositioni anche non pria vedute
gareggia non senza grande ammiratione e meritato
applauso con professori e virtuosi piu inveterati e piu
celebri. Questo interviene alle Musiche e primarie
Accademie di Roma, come e a dire in quella dell' Emo
Sig'^^- Card'^- Ottoboni, nell' altra che per tutto I'anno
quotidianamente continua nell' Ecc""^- Casa Colonna e nel
Collegio Clementino ; e si in queste come in altre pubbli-
che Accademie suona a solo ed in concerto con qualsiasi
virtuoso. E tuttocio ben potrebbe testificarsi dal Sassone
famoso che lo ha ben inteso in Casa Ottoboni, ed in
Casa Colonna ha sonato seco e vi sona di continuo. II
Sig"^^- Duca della Mirandola nel tempo di sua dimora in
Roma sempre 1' ha tenuto appresso di se. Per tanto se
V.A.S. in congiuntura di cotesta opera havesse curiosita
di sperimentarlo ardisco dire che cio avverrebbe con
istupore di chi che sia. E per essere il fancuillo figlio del
Decano della Sig""^- Prencipessa Altieri credo che esso di
339
340 HANDEL
lui padre ne havera una somma ambizione. Lo stesso
figliolo e di gran spirito, di bella presenza e di ottima
indole. Et in humilita alia S.A.V. le faccio pro-
fondiss^ riv^^,
" Anibale Merlini "
Archivio Mediceo, Filza 5897
APPENDIX B
Letters on Israel in Egypt
I have not succeeded in finding a copy of the London
Daily Post in which the first of the following letters
appeared. It was, however, reprinted in the issue of
April I, 1740, on the occasion of a revival of Israel in
Egypt.
Wedaesday viorning, April 18, 1739
" Sir, — I beg Leave, by your Paper, to congratulate,
not Mr. Handel, but the Town, upon the appearance
there was last Night at Israel in Egypt. The glory of
one Man, on this Occasion, is but of small Importance,
in Comparison with that of so numerous an Assembly.
The having a disposition to encourage, and Faculties to
be entertain'd by such a truly-spiritual Entertainment,
being very little inferior to the unrivall'd Superiority of
first selecting the noble thoughts contained in the Drama,
and giving to each its proper Expression in that most
noble and angelic Science of Musick. This, Sir, the
inimitable Author has done in such a manner as far to
excel himself, if compar'd with any other of his masterly
Compositions: As, indeed, he must have infinitely sunk
beneath himself, and done himself great Injustice, had
he fallen short of doing so. — But what a glorious
Spectacle ! to see a crowded Audience of the first
Quality of a Nation, headed by the Heir-apparent of
APPENDIX B 341
their Sovereign's Crown and Virtues, with his lovely
and beloved Royal Consort by his Side, sitting enchanted
(each receiving a superior Delight from the visible Satis-
faction it gave the other) at Sounds, that at the same
time express'd in so sublime a manner the Praises of the
Deity itself, and did such Honour to the Faculties of
human Nature, in first creating those Sounds, if I may
so speak ; and in the next Place, being able to be so
highly delighted with them. Nothing shows the Worth
of a People more, than their Taste for Publick Diversions :
And could it be suppos'd, as I hope in Charity it may,
or if this and suchlike Entertainments are often repeated,
it will, that numerous and splendid Assemblies shall enter
into the true Spirit of such an Entertainment, praising
their Creator for the Care He takes of ' the Righteous '
(see Oratorio, p. 6) and for the Delight he gives them : —
Did such a Taste prevail tmiversally in a People, that
People might expect on a like Occasion^ if such Occasion
should ever happen to them, the sam,e Deliverance as those
praises celebrate ; and Protestant, free, virtuous, united.
Christian England need little fear, at any time Jiereafter, the
whole Force of slavish, bigotted, united, unchristian Popery^
risen up against her should sucli a conjuncture ever hereafter
happen.
" If the Town is ever to be bless'd with this Entertain-
ment again, I would recommend to every one to take
the Book of the Drama with them : For tho' the Harmony
be so unspeakably great of itself, it is in an unmeasurable
Proportion more so, when seen to what Words it is
adapted ; especially, if every one who could take with
them the Book, would do their best to carry a Heart for
the Sense, as well as an Ear for the Sound. •
" The narrow Limits of your Paper forbids entering
into Particulars : But they know not what they fall short
of in the Perfection of the Entertainment, who, when they
hear the Musick, are not acquainted with the Words it
expresses ; or, if they have the Book, have not the proper
Spirit to relish them. The Whole of the first Part
\i.e. the Funeral Anthem] is entirely Devotional ; and
342 HANDEL
tho' the second Part be but Historical, yet as it relates
the great Acts of the Power of God, the Sense and
the Musick have a reciprocal Influence upon each
other.
" * He gave them Hailstones for Rain, Fire mingled with
the Hail ran along the Ground ' : And above all, ' But
the Waters overwhelm'd their Enemies, there was not
one left.' — The Sublimity of the great Musical Poet's
Imagination here will not admit of Expression to any
one who considers the Sound and the Sense together.
" The same of ' He is my God, I will prepare Him an
Habitation: my Father's God.' Page 13 in the third
Part.
"Again, 'Thou didst blow with the Wind; the Sea
cover'd them ; they sunk as Lead in the mighty Waters,'
— and, to name no more, ' The Lord shall reign for ever
and ever'; and Miriam's Song at the Conclusion.
" 'Tis a sort of separate Existence the Musick has in
these places apart from the Words ; 'tis Soul and Body
join'd when heard and read together: and if People
before they went to hear it would but retire a Moment,
and read by themselves the Words of the Sacred Drama,
it would tend very much to raise their Delight when
at the Representation, The Theatre, on this Occasion,
ought to be enter'd with more solemnity than a Church ;
inasmuch as the Entertainment you go to is really in
itself the noblest Adoration and Homage paid to the
Deity that ever was in one. So sublime an Act of
Devotion as this Representation carries in it, to a Heart
and Ear duly tuned for it, would consecrate even Hell
itself — It is the Action that is done in it that hallows the
Place, and not the Place the Action. And if any outward
Circumstances foreign to me can adulterate a good
Action, I do not see where I can perform one, but in the
most abstract Solitude. — If this be going out of the
way, on this Occasion, the stupid senseless Exceptions
that have been taken to so truly religious Representations
as this, in particular, and the other Oratorios are, from
the Place they are exhibited in, and to the attending and
APPExNDIX B 343
assisting at them by Persons of real Piety must be my
Apology.
" I have been told, the Words were selected out of
the Sacred Writings by the Great Composer himself.
If so, the Judiciousness of his Choice in this Respect,
and his suiting so happily the Magnificence of the Sounds
in so exalted a Manner to the Grandeur of the Subject,
shew which Way his natural Genius, had he but
Encouragement, would incline him ; and expresses, in
a very lively Manner, the Harmony of his Heart to be
as superlatively excellent, as the inimitable Sounds do
the Beauty and Force of his Imagination and Skill in
the noble Science itself.
" I can't conclude, Sir, without great concern at the
Disadvantage so great a Master labours under, with
respect to many of his Vocal Instruments, which fall so
vastly short in being able to do due Justice to what they
are to perform ; and which, if executed in a manner
worthy of it, would receive so great advantage. This
Consideration will make a humane Mind serious, where
a lighter Mind would be otherwise affected. I shall
conclude with this Maxim, ' That in Publick Entertain-
ments Every one should come with a reasonable Desire
of being entertain'd themselves, or with the polite Resolu-
tion no ways to interrupt the Entertainment of others.
And that to have a truce with Dissipation and noisy
Discourse, and to forbear that silly Affectation of beating
Time aloud on such an Occasion is indeed in appearance
a great Compliment paid to the Divine Author of so
sacred an Entertainment, and to the rest of the Company
near them; but at the same time in reality a much
greater Respect paid to themselves.' I cannot but add
this Word, since I am on the Subject, That I think a
profound Silence a much more proper Expression of
Approbation to Musick, and to deep Distress in Tragedy,
than all the noisy Applause so much in Vogue, however
great the Authority of Custom may be for it. — I am,
Sir, etc, R. W."
344 HANDEL
London Daily Post, 13 May 1739
" Sir, — Upon my arrival in town three days ago, I was
not a little surprised to find that Mr. Handel's last
oratorio, Israel in Egypt, which had been perform'd but
once, was advertised to be for the last time on Wednesday.
I was almost tempted to think that his genius had failed
him, but must own myself agreeably disappointed. I was
not only pleased, but also affected by it ; for I never yet
met with any musical performance in which the words
and sentiments were so thoroughly studied and so clearly
understood ; and as the words are taken from the Bible
they are perhaps some of the most sublime parts of it.
I was indeed concerned that so excellent a work of so
great a genius was neglected, for though it was a polite
and attentive audience, it was not large enough, I doubt,
to encourage him in any future attempt. As I should be
extremely sorry to be deprived of hearing this again, and
found many of the auditors in the same disposition, yet
being afraid Mr. Handel will not undertake it without
some publick encouragement, because he may think
himself precluded by his advertisement (that it was to be
the last time) I must beg leave by your means to convey
not only my own but the desires of several others that he
will perform this again some time next week. — I am. Sir,
your very humble servant, A. Z."
APPENDIX C
Handel's Indebtedness to other Composers
Of late years the question of Handel's indebtedness to
other composers has occupied an altogether dispro-
portionate amount of attention, indeed writers on Handel
have devoted themselves to this particular point almost
to the exclusion of all other phases of the composer's
APPENDIX C 345
activity. Mr. Sedley Taylor's Indebtedness of Hatidel to
other Composers (Cambridge, 1907), and Mr. P. Robinson's
Handel and his Orbit (London, 1908), discuss the question
so fully that it is hardly necessary for me to do more than
refer my readers to their pages for a summary of the
latest conclusions on the subject. However, as a certain
amount of misunderstanding still exists with regard to
Handel's supposed delinquencies, it may be as well to
recapitulate briefly all that is known about them.
There is no doubt that Handel did make liberal use
of the works of other men. The practice was by no
means uncommon in his day, as Mr. Robinson proves up
to the hilt, but Handel seems to have gone a considerable
step farther than any of his contemporaries. Often he
borrowed only a phrase or two and worked them up into
elaborate choruses, but at other times he would take over
a whole movement practically unaltered, as in the case
of " Egypt was glad," and " Ere to dust is changed thy
beauty." We know now, thanks to the labours of Mr.
Robinson, that several of the works from which he
borrowed most, e.g. the so-called Urio Te Deum and the
Erba Magnificat, were in all probability early works of
his own, but his indebtedness to many well-known
composers of his own day remains an established fact.
It is certain, too, that his borrowing was conducted upon
a regular system. He had notebooks in which he jotted
down passages which he thought would be useful, laying
up a store of other men's ideas against a rainy day. This
practice of his has proved a grievous stumbling-block to
many of his latter-day admirers, whose pious minds have
been severely exercised by the suspicion that their hero,
though the soul of honesty in the ordinary affairs of life,
was as unscrupulous as a highwayman in artistic matters.
The difficulty is purely imaginary ; the mistake is to
judge Handel according to modern notions of property.
Copyright legislation has in our times entirely altered
the popular view of a man's rights in the productions of
his own brain. In Handel's day the idea that literary or
artistic works were the actual property of their authors
346 HANDEL
did not exist. What we now call piracy was a recognised
institution, and Handel suffered from it as much as
anybody. It is true that composers did not as a rule
venture to make free with his music, though Mr. Robinson
has shown that Muffat did so on occasion, but the reason
for their abstention is obvious. Handel borrowed subjects
from his contemporaries because he saw that he could do
more wdth them than the composers had done, but he
would have been a bold man who ventured to go one
better than "the celebrated Mr. Handel." But in other
respects the pirates had their will of him, and apparently
without any protest on his part. When Walsh made a
fortune out of Rinaldo, Handel treated the incident as a
joke, and merely observed that the next time Walsh
should write the opera and he would publish it. When
Arne gave a performance of Acts and Galatea under
Handel's very nose in the Haymarket, Handel made no
protest, but merely replied with a performance of his own.
Everything goes to prove that in those days a musical
work, so soon as it materialised into paper and ink, was
common property, and any one who chose could do what
he liked with it. To pass off another man's work as your
own, as Bononcini is supposed to have done in the case
of a madrigal by Lotti, was a perfectly different thing,
and was regarded as a piece of shameless dishonesty, but
no one thought the worse of a man for making judicious
use of what was evidently regarded as the common stock.
The distinction appears a slight one to us, whose minds
are trained by modern legislation, but in the eighteenth
century it was evidently observed with the utmost nicety.
After all, who shall say that we are right and our
ancestors wrong ? We talk glibly nowadays about a thing
being right or wrong, when all that we really mean is
that it is legal or illegal. Consciences are quite as elastic
now as they ever were. When a law is passed we contrive
to adjust our moral standard to it in a very short time.
Even now, be it observed, with all our copyright legisla-
tion, we have by no means come to regard the products
of our brains as property in the same sense as lands,
APPENDIX C 347
houses, and money. A man is only allowed to enjoy the
proceeds of a patented invention for fourteen years. The
books that we write and the music that we compose are
ours only for a limited period, which varies in different
countries. Yet what can be more essentially a man's
property than the works of his own imagination ? Surely
they are his in a far more intimate sense than the goods
and chattels that he inherits from his forefathers. True,
says the modern legislator, but it is for the good of the
world at large that books, music, and inventions should
eventually become public property. Undoubtedly, but
would it not also be for the good of the world that
the wealth of our millionaires should eventually be
absorbed by the State? However, so long as our laws
are made by those who are richer in money than in brains
the millionaires will be safe and the authors, composers,
and inventors will have to suffer. Truly the phantom
Property leads us into strange passes !
But to return to Handel, there is no doubt that in his
own day no one thought any the worse of him for taking
his own wherever he found it. No man had more
enemies than Handel, and they left no stone unturned in
their endeavours to ruin him, yet not one of them ever
made his habitual borrowing an excuse for blackening
his character. Even his old enemy Mattheson, who would
have been only too pleased to injure his artistic reputa-
tion, writing so early as 1722 refers at some length in
his Critica Alusica to the fact that Handel used a tune
borrowed from Mattheson's own Porsenna in his Agrippina
and Muzio Scevola. Yet there is no trace of bitterness
in his observations, indeed he does not go beyond a little
mild chaff about Handel's excellent memory. Scheibe in
Der Critische Musikus (1737) remarks : " Handel has often
worked out not only his own thoughts but those of other
people, especially of Reinhard Keiser," without imputing
any suggestion of blame. The Abbe Prevost, who lived
in London for several years, knew all about Handel's
borrowings. In Le Four et le Contre (1733) we read :
" Ouelques critiques I'accusent d'avoir emprunte le fond
348 HANDEL
d'une infinite de belles choses de Lully et surtout des
cantates fran9aises, qu'il a I'adresse, disent-ils, de deguiser
a ritalienne. Mais le crime serait leger, quand il serait
certain." Mr. Robinson, in Handel and his Orbit, quotes
many additional passages which prove that Handel's use
of other men's music was no secret to his contemporaries.
Moreover, he conclusively establishes the fact that Handel
not only took no pains to shroud his proceedings in
secrecy, but on the contrary seems to have gone out of
his way to advertise them to all whom they might
concern. But the best summing-up of the views of the
eighteenth century upon what we now call literary larceny
is to be found in Byrom's lines on the famous Milton-
Lauder controversy : —
" Crime in a Poet, sirs, to steal a Tiiought?
No, that 'tis not, if it be good for aught.
'Tis lawful Theft ; 'tis laudable to boot ;
'Tis want of Genius if he does not do't.
The Fool admires, the Man of Sense alone
Lights on a happy Thought, and makes it all his own ;
Flies like a Bee along the Muses' Field,
Peeps in and tastes what any Flow'r can yield —
Free, from the various Blossoms that he meets
To pick and cull and carry Home the Sweets ;
While, saunt'ring out, the heavy stingless Drone
Amidst a thousand Sweets makes none of 'em his own."
INDEX
Ach, Herr, mich armett Sunder
(Handel), 13
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Handel),
43, 228, 232, 261, 269
Acis and Galatea (Handel), 82, 83,
114, 117, 255, 267, 269, 270,
346
Addison, Joseph, satirises opera, 56 ;
failure of his Rosamond, 57 ;
attacks Rinaldo, 57, 58 ; his
opinion of librettos, 192
Ademollo, Agostino, 31, 46
Admeto (Handel), 100, 242, 337
Agrippina (Handel), 37 Jiote, 43, 46,
222, 226-228, 260
Aix-la-Chapelle, Handel's visit to,
141, 144; Frederick the Great's
opinion of, 145 ; rejoicings for
Peace of, 200
Alceste (Handel), 206, 322
Akhymist, The (Handel), 338
Alcina (Handel), 137, 222, 231, 251,
252
Alessandro (Handel), 98, 241, 242
Alessandro in Persia, 165
Alessandro Severe (Handel), 148
Alexander Balus (Handel), 198, 316,
317
Alexander' s Feast {J^2in.^&\\ 136, 138,
165, 186, 255, 274, 27s
Allacci, L., his Dranimaturgia re-
ferred to, 29, 46
Allegro ed il Penseroso, II (Handel),
157, 162, 164, 165, 255, 282,
283
Almahide, 56, 57
Almira (Handel), 22, 221, 224, 225,
228, 336
Almira (Keiser), 23
Amadigi (Handel), 70, 233-235, 252
Amelia, Princess, Handel appointed
hermusic-master,75,84, 104; pre-
sent during Faustina-Cuzzoniriot,
loi ; quarrels with her brother,
125; her devotion to Handel,
133 ; present at celebration of
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 201 ;
at performance of Theodora, 205
Andrews, Handel stays with, at Barn
Elms, 67
Anna Maria dei Medici, Electress
Palatine, raises money for Gian
Gastone, 25 ; Handel visits her
court, 49, 61 ; her character, 50
Anne, Princess Royal, Handel ap-
pointed her music-master, 75)
84 ; patronises Handel's operatic
management, 108 ; desirous of
seeing Esther, 1 1 5 ; quarrels
with her brother, 125 ; marries
Prince of Orange, 132 ; her
devotion to Handel, 133 ; per-
suades Handel to take Lincoln's
Inn Theatre, 134
Anne, Queen of England, social con-
ditions in her reign, 53 ; her
disapproval of the stage, 55 5
Handel composes Ode for her
birthday, 69 ; confers pension
upon Handel, 70 ; her death, 70
Annibali, Domenico, sings for Han-
del, 140
Ansbach, Handel visits, 77
Anthems (Handel) —
Chandos, 82, 264-266
Coronation, 105, 270-272
Dettingen, 179, 307
Foundling, 203
Funeral, 147, 153, 275
Wedding, 132, 138, 274, 275
350
HANDEI.
Antiochus (Gasparini), 69
Arbuthnot, John, meets Handel at
Burlington House, 67 ; satirises
opera scandal in The Devil to
■tay at St. James'' s, 102 ; attacks
Beggar's Opera, 106 ; defends
Handel in Harmony in an Up-
roar, 128 ; criticises Senesino,
130 ; his opinion of Handel, 173
Arcadian Academy, 35, 43, 258
Ariadne (Handel), 130, 134, 249,
250
Ariadne (Porpora), 130
Ariodattte (Handel), 134, 250, 251,
338
Ariosti, Attilio, his legendary meeting
with Handel at Berlin, 9 ; Rolli's
epigram on, 9 7tote ; appointed
musical director of Royal Aca-
demy of Music, 86 ; act of Ahizio
Scevola wrongly attributed to him,
90 ; epigram on his music, 1 00
Armida (Gluck), 231, 252
Arminio (Handel), 140, 253
Arne, Thomas, performs Handel's
Acis and Galatea, 1 17, 346
Arsinoc (Clayton), 55
Astarto (Bononcini), 89, 237
Astyanax (Bononcini), 100
Atalanta (Handel), 138, 252
Athaliah (Handel), 127, 132, 136,
273. 274, 302
Augusta, Princess of Wales, her
marriage, 138 ; present at
Handel's rehearsals, 181 ; at
celebration of Peace of Aix-la-
Chapelle, 201 ; at Foundling
Hospital, 203
Augustus, of Saxony, Duke, appoints
Handel's father his private sur-
geon, 2 ; his court at Halle, ib.
Avolio, Signora, arrives in Dublin,
162, 163 ; sings in Messiah, 167-
170
Babell, William, Handel praises his
playing, 60
Bach, Johann Sebastian, tries to
meet Handel at Halle, 87 ; van-
quishes Marchand at Dresden,
ib. ; invites Handel to Leipzig,
1 10 ; his interview with Frederick
the Great, 145 ; his Christinas
Oratorio, 269 ; his sacred music
compared with Handel's, 263-
265, 285, 298, 300, 333
Bagpipes, imitated by Handel, 282,
314
Baily, James, sings in Messiah, 168
Baker, , recommends singers to
Handel, 161
Baldassarri, Benedetto, engaged by
Handel, 86
Banister, John, plays at Britton's
concerts, 60
Beard, John, sings for Handel, 136,
191 ; Walpole's criticism of,
175; his marriage, 175, 176;
his singing in Samson, 213
Beattie, James, his anecdote of The
Messiah, 177 ; his view of Han-
del's religious belief, 219
Beethoven, Ludwig van, Handel
compared with, 335
Beggar's Opera, 77ie {Gd.y), 106, 112,
158, 162
Belshazzar (Handel), 182, 185, 187,
312, 313
Bentley, Richard, of Nailston, 151
Bentley, Thomas, 151 note
Berenice (Handel), 140, 253
Berlin, Handel's visit to, 7
Bernacchi, Antonio, no, iii, 114
Bertolli, Francesca, in
Binitz, von, takes Handel to Italy,
26
Bonlini, G. C, references to his
Glorie delta Poesia, 43 note, 46
Bononcini, Giovanni Maria, his
legendary meeting with Handel
at Berlin, 9 ; appointed musical
director of Royal Academy of
Music, 86 ; production of his
Astarto, 89 ; collaborates with
Handel in Muzio Scevola, 90 ;
production of his Crispo and
Griselda, ib. ; dismissed by
Royal Academy, 93 ; patronised
by Duchess of Marlborough, ib. ;
production of his Farnace and
Calfitrnia, ib. ; Byrom's epigram
on, 94 ; production of his Asty-
anax, 100; attacks Handel in
Advice to Composers, 107 ; per-
INDEX
351
forms serenata at opera-house,
118; leaves England in disgrace,
131, 346 ; furnishes melody of
Handel's last composition, 216 ;
his influence on Handel, 230,
237, 238
Bononcini, Marcantonio, his Caniilla
performed in London, 55, 56 ;
Duke of Manchester tries to
bring him to London, 55 ; his
Etearco produced in London, 56
Bordoni, Faustina. See Faustina
Borosini, Francesco, 96, 239
Boschi, Giuseppe, 48, 86
Bradshaw, Mrs., letter on " smock-
runs," 103
Bristol, Elizabeth, Countess of, her
description of Cuzzoni, 93 ; refers
to Bononcini's dismissal, ib. ;
letter on opera, 130
Brookes, Barthold, 77, 263
Britton, Thomas, his concerts, 60
Brook Street, Handel's house in, 88
Broughton, Thomas, 309
Brown, Lady, her hostility to Han-
del, 184
Burlington, Dorothy, Countess of, 99
Burlington, Juliana, Countess of, 69
Burlington, Richard, Earl of, Handel
stays with, 67 ; celebrated by
Gay, 68 ; invites Pope to Chis-
wick, ib. ; Teseo dedicated to
him, 69 ; reconciles Handel to
George i, 73 ; Handel plays at
his house, 214
Burney, Charles, his reference to
Corelli's technique, 40 ; to Sene-
sino, 89 Jiote ; to Cuzzoni, 92 ;
to Strada, no, in iwfe ; to
Caffarelli, 148 ; to Handel's visit
to Chester, 161 ; to Quin's ac-
count of T/ie Messiah, 167 ; to
Dubourg, 170; to Mrs. Cibber,
175; to Handel's behaviour at
rehearsal, 181 ; anecdote of
Handel's impetuosity, 196 ; de-
scription of Handel's appearance,
205 ; reference to Theodora,
206 ; to Handel's playing when
blind, 213 ; to Handel's death,
217; to Handel's organ con-
certos, 333
Butler, Samuel, his note on Hercules,
309 ; on Handel's harpsichord
suites, 328 ; on Handel's sixth
fugue, ib.
Byrom, John, his epigram on Handel
and Bononcini, 94 ; lines on
Italian opera, 96 ; reference to
Figg, the prize-fighter, 103 ;
description of first night of Hnrlo-
thriunbo, 1 12; lines on Milton-
Lauder controversy, 348
Caduta dei Giganti, La (Gluck),
195
Caffarelli, 148
Caio Fabrizio, 130
Caldara, Antonio, 35
Calfurnia (Bononcini), 93
Calypso (Galliard), 64
Camilla (Bononcini), 55) S6, 86
Canons, built by Duke of Chandos,
79; its chapel, 80; organ, 81 ;
opening of chapel, 83
Cantatas (Handel), 40, 43, 232
Carestini, Giovanni, engaged by
Handel, 129; his voice, 130;
Lady Bristol's opinion of, ib. ;
sings in A?'iodante, 134 ; quarrels
with Handel, 137 ; leaves Eng-
land, ib. ; his singing in Ariadite,
249
Carey, Henry, attacks Beggar s Opera,
106 ; parodies opera in Dragon
ofWantley, 141
Carissimi, Giacomo, 257-259
Carlton House, Handel at, 181
Caroline, Queen, her friendship with
Handel, 62 ; her singing, ib. ;
confers pension on Handel, 75 ;
present at opera-house during
Faustina-Cuzzoni riot, 102 ;
support's Handel's opera, 131 ;
death, 145 ; George ii's grief
for, 146 ; Handel writes Funeral
Anthem for, 147
Caroline, Princess, Handel appointed
her music-master, 75; 84, 104 ;
her devotion to Handel, 133
Cavalieri, Emilio del, 257
Chalumeaux, Handel's use of, 243
Chamber Duets (Handel), 62, 291,
292, 295
352
HANDEL
Chandos, Henry, 2nd Duke of, his
romantic marriage, 8i
Chandos, James, ist Duke of, builds
Canons, 79 ; engages Pcpusch
as musical director, 81 ; engages
Handel, 82, 264 ; his adventure
with highwaymen, 85
Chandos Anthems, (Handel), 82,
264-266
Chandos Te Deum, (Handel), 82,
266
Chansons (Handel), 43
Charles Edward, Prince, his rebellion,
189, 313, 314
Cheltenham, Handel's visits to, 188,
208
Chester, Handel's visit to, 161
Chesterfield, Melusina, Countess of.
See Schulenburg
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer, Earl of,
his wager with Heidegger, 65 ;
his epigram on Handel's ora-
torios, 180
Chimenti, 139
Choice of Hercules, The (Handel),
216, 321, 322
Christmas Oratorio (Bach), 261
Chrysander, Friedrich, references to
his biography of Handel, 31, 37,
43 note, 74 note ; to his edition
of Handel's works, 6, 13
Cibber, Susannah Maria, in Dublin,
162 ; sings in The Messiah, 167-
169 ; Dr. Delany's tribute to her
singing, 169 note; Walpole's
criticism of, 175
Clarinet, Handel's use of, 240
Clayton, Thomas, 55, 57
Clement ix, Pope, 258
Cleopatra (Mattheson), 19, 21
Clotilda (Conti), 57
Cobham, Anne, Viscountess, supports
Handel, 180
Coke, Lady Jane, letter on celebration
of Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 200
Colombo (Ottoboni), 34
Colonna, Cardinal, Handel plays at
his house, 33, 339 ; tries to
introduce Handel to Pretender,
109
Compton, Lady Elizabeth, reference
to Beard, 136
Concertos (Handel) —
Grand, 332
Hautboy, 62, 331, 332
Organ, 136, 333-335
Concerts, in London, 59
Conforto, Domenico, 42
Congreve, William, 307
Cope, Sir John, 189
Corelli, Arcangelo, meets Handel, 35 ;
admitted to Arcadian Academy,
ib. ; scene with Handel, 40
Coronation Anthems (Handel), 105,
270-272
Cosmo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany,
27
Cowper, Lady, her diary quoted, 54,
76,89
Craftsman, The, publishes lampoon
on Walpole and Handel, 120
Crispo (Bononcini), 90
Critic, The (Sheridan), 250
Cumberland, William, Duke of,
birth, 90 ; Judas Maccabceus
written in his honour, 192, 314;
gives Morell a present, 193 ;
present at celebration of Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, 201 ; pardons
Servandoni, 202
Cuzzoni, Francesca, appears with
Vittoria Tesi in Daplme, 31 ;
makes her English debut, 91 ;
her appearance, voice, and
character, 92 ; sings English
ballads, 93 ; her triumphs in
Handel's operas, 96 ; appears
with Faustina, 98 ; rivalry
between them, 99 ; causes riots
in opera-house, 100-104 5 sings
at King's Theatre, 1 34 ; re-
appears in England, and sings in
Messiah, 207 ; death, 208
Deborah (Handel), 119, 120, 136,
254, 271-273, 302, 337
Defesch, William, 191
Defoe, Daniel, his description of
Canons, 79, 80
Deida7nia (Handel), 158, 222, 254
Delany, Dr., his tribute to Mrs.
Gibber's singing, 169 note,
present at rehearsal of Dettingen
Te Deum, 179
INDEX
353
Delany, Mary, meets Handel as a
child, 59 ; her description of a
water-parly, 73 note ; of Cuzzoni's
singing, 92 ; refers to dismissal
of Bononcini, 93 ; describes
Riccardo, 105 ; and Beggar s
Opera, 106 ; criticises Lotarto,
112 ; Handel plays at her house,
133, 136, 140; descnhts Akina,
137 ; mentions Pasquin to Swift,
139; letters on opera, 139, 142 ;
criticises Beard, 175 ; present at
rehearsal of Dettingen Te Detun,
179; criticises ^■^we/^, 179, 180;
describes Joseph, 182 ; refers to
Handel's blindness, 212
Dent, E. J., references to his
biography of Scarlatti, 35, 36,
40-42, 228-230, 257
De Quincey, Thomas, his description
of Coronation Anthem, 270
Dettingen, victory of, 178
Dettingen Anthem (Handel), 179,
.307
Dettingen Te Deum (Handel), 179,
275. 307
Devil to pay at St. James's, The
(Arbuthnot), 102
Devonshire, William, 4th Duke of,
invites Handel to Ireland, 160
Dido and yiEneas (Purcell), 246, 319
Dionisio (Perti), 36
Dixit Dominus (Handel), 32, 229,
257
Dodington, George Bubb, his de-
scription of Prince Frederick's
funeral, 215
Dragon of IVantley, 'I he (Lampe),
141, 158
Dresden, Handel's visit to, 86-SS
Dublin, Handel's visit to, 160-172
Dubourg, Matthew, teaches the violin
to Prince Frederick, 126, 329 ;
established in Dublin, 162, 163 ;
performs in Messiah, 167, 168 ;
story of his cadenza, 1 70 ;
Handel's sonatas composed for,
329
Du Breil, dances in Rinaldo, 57
Duets (Handel), 62, 291, 292, 295
Durastanti, Francesca, sings in
Agrippina, 47 ; George I stands
23
godfather to her son, 71 ;
engaged by Handel, 86 ; her
singing not a success, 91 ; sings
with Carestini, 130
Dtisseldorf, Handel's visits to, 49,
61, 86
Earthquakes, Handel's concerts
affected by, 204
Elbing, Handel writes cantata for,
144
Elmiro (Pallavicino), 43 note
Encores, by-law forbidding, 71
Erba Magnificat, 45 note, 345
Ei-losung des Volks Gottes, Die
(Handel), 13
Ernest Augustus, of Hanover, Prince,
meets Handel at Venice, 36 ;
invites him to Hanover, 39
Esther (Handel), 81-83, Ii4-ii7>
136, 165, 267-269, 271, 302,
334
Etearco (Bononcini), 56
Ezio (Handel), 114, 246
Fabri, Annibale, no, iii, 114
Fabrice, Kammerherr van, 39, 90
Faramondo (Handel), 147 note, 148,
. 253.
Farinelli, Handel hears him in Italy,
129 ; engaged by the " Opera of
the Nobility," 133 ; infatuation
for, 139; sings in Porpora's
Festa ahneneo, ib. ; his vogue
declines, ib. ; leaves England,
Farnace (Bononcini), 93
Faustina [Bordoni], engaged by
Royal Academy of Music, 97 ;
appears in Alessandro, 98 ;
rivalry with Cuzzoni, 99 ; cause
of riots at opera-Jiouse, 100-104
Ferdinand dei Medici, Prince, his
court at Florence, 27 ; Handel
introduced to, 28 ; his friendship
with Scarlatti, and opinion of his
music, 28, 225 ; gives Handel
service of porcelain, 29 ;
Merlini's letter to, 32, 339 ;
produces Perti's Dionisio, 36 ;
his illness and recovery, 45
Festa d Ivieneo, La (Porpora), 139
354
HANDEL
Fidelia (Beethoven), Rodelinda com-
pared with, 241
Fielding, Henry, his Pasqiiin pro-
duced, 139; description of ora-
torio performance in Amelia, 194
Figg, J., his prize-fighting "Acad-
emy," 103
Fireworks INIusic (Handel), 200-202,
306
FitzGerald, Edward, his remarks on
Handel's wig, 181 ; on "He
layeth the beams," 241 ; on
Handel's paganism, 255 ; on Acis
and Galatea, 269 ; on the char-
acter of Handel's music, 270, 338
Flavio (Handel), 95, 238
Flemming, Count von, 87
P'lorence, Handel's visits to, 27, 30,
36, 44
Floridante (Handel), 90, 237, 238
Florindo tmd Dap/uic (Handel), 26
Foundling Anthem (Handel), 203
Foundling Hospital, Fireworks Music
performed at, 202 ; Handel's
munificence to, 203 ; perform-
ances of Messiah at, 203, 208
Fountayne, Rev. Mr., 315
Francesina, 148, 191
Franz, Robert, his additional ac-
companiments to Messiah, 296
Frasi, Giulia, 196, 197
Frederick I, King of Prussia, his
court at Berlin, 7 ; wishes to
send Handel to Italy, 10
Frederick il, the Great, King of
Prussia, story of his message to
Handel, 144; his opinion of
Aix-la-Chapelle, 145 ; his inter-
view with Bach, ib.
Frederick, Prince of Wales, his
popularity, 125; his quarrels
with his family, ih. ; his hostility
to Handel, 126; takes violin
lessons from Dubourg, 126, 329 ;
instrumental in founding "Opera
of Nobility," 126 ; supports it
strongly, 131 ; his marriage,
138 ; reconciled to Handel, ib. ;
joins anti-Walpolian mob, 155 ;
Samson dedicated to him, 174 ;
his friendship with Handel, 180,
181 ; recommends Morell to
Handel, 193; present at celebra-
tion of Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle,
201 ; at Foundling Hospital,
203 ; bails Cuzzoni, 208 ; his
death, 214
Frost Fair, 156
Funeral Anthem (Handel), 147, 153,
275
Galliard, John Ernest, 64
Galuppi, Baldassarre, 165
Gasparini, Francesco, 37, 69
Gates, Bernard, gives performance of
Esther at his house, 83, 1 15
Gay, John, his description of Mohock
frolics, 53 ; meets Handel at
Burlington House, 67 ; cele-
brates Lord Burlington in Trivia,
68 ; and in A Journey to Exeter,
69 ; writes libretto of Acis and
Galatea, 83 ; letter to Swift on
music, 94 ; produces Beggar s
Opera, 106 ; difficulties over
Polly, 112
Geminiani, Francesco, his story of
Corelli, 40 ; plays at court of
George i, 74
German Songs (Handel), 62
George i, King of England, appoints
Handel Kapellmeister at
Hanover, 49 ; his correspond-
ence with Elector Palatine,
62 ; succeeds to English throne,
70; his fondness for opera, 71 ;
reconciled to Handel, 74 ;
confers pension upon him, 75 ;
his dislike of England, ib. ; visits
Hanover, 76 ; returns to London,
78 ; death, 104
George 11, King of England, Handel
introduced to, 49 ; his behaviour
at Heidegger's masquerade, 66 ;
proclaimed King, 104 ; his
coronation, 105 ; supports
Handel's opera, 131 ; his
admiration for The Dragon
of Wantley, 141 ; his grief at
death of Queen Caroline, 146 ;
present at first London per-
formance of Messiah, 177 ; his
victory at Dettingen, 178;
supports Handel's oratorios,
INDEX
355
1 80 ; his view of Jacobite
rebellion, 189; present at
celebration of Peace of Aix-la-
Chapelle, 201
Gibson, Edmund, Bishop of London,
115,267
Giovanni Gastone dei Medici,
Prince, meets Handel at
Hamburg, 23 ; visits Florence,
26 ; introduces Handel to
Prince Ferdinand, 28 ; present at
thanksgiving service in Florence,
45
Giuho Cesare (Handel), 95, 238, 239
Giustino (Handel), 140, 222, 253
Gizziello, sings at Covent Garden, 140
Gluck, Christoph Willibald von,
writes Cadtita dei Gigatiti, 195 ;
Handel's opinion of, ib. ; his
visit to Handel, ib. ; his venera-
tion for Handel, 196 ; his
Armida compared with Kinaldo,
231 ; his Iphigenia in Tauris
compared with Admeto, 242
Goethe, J. W. von, his Rinaldo
compared with Handel's Alcina,
252
Goldsmith, Oliver, his reference to
minuet in Ariadne, 250
Gopsall, Handel stays at, 150;
tradition that Handel's oratorios
were composed at, 151
Gordon, his quarrel with Handel,
95
Gosport, Canons organ now at, 81
Grand Concertos (Handel), 332
Granville, Bernard, 215, 217
Greber, Giacomo, his Loves of
Ergasto produced, 55
Greene, Maurice, his civilities to
Handel, 67, 262 ; organist of
Chapel Royal, 97, 104; satirised
in Harmony in an Uproar, 129
Grimani, Vincenzo, Cardinal, ap-
pointed Viceroy of Naples, 41 ;
patronises Handel, 43 ; writes
libretto of Agrippitta, ib.
Griselda (Bononcini), 90, 91
Guernsey, Lord, Handel's esteem
for, 171
Guns, introduced by Handel into
Judas MaccabcEus, 197
Halle, Handel born at, 2 ; court
life at, ib. ; Handel's visits to,
26, 49, 63, 77, 87, no;
Handel matriculates at Uni-
versity of, II; Bach's visit to, 87
Hallelujah Chorus, origin of custom
of standing during performance
of, 177 ; Handel's opinion of,
205, 321 ; his feelings while
. composing, 219 ; compared to
Bach's Sanctiis, 298, 300
Hamburg, musical conditions at, 15;
Handel arrives at, 16 ; leaves
26 ; subsequent visit to, in
Hamilton, Newburgh, writes libretto
oi Sainson, 174, 303
Handel, Dorothea, see Taust,
Dorothea
Handel, George, appointed surgeon
to Duke Augustus of Saxony, 2 ;
discourages his son's musical
tendency, 4 ; takes him to
Weissenfels, ib. ; and to Berlin,
7 ; his death, 1 1
Handel, George Frederick —
his birth (1685), 2 ; early inclina-
tion for music, 3 ; visits Weissen-
fels (1692), 4 ; studies with Zac-
how, 5 ; visits Berlin (1696), 7 ;
legendary encounter with Bonon-
cini, 9 ; matriculates at Halle
University (1702), 11 ; appointed
organist of Schlosskirche, 12 ;
leaves Halle (1703), 14 ; arrives at
Hamburg, 16 ; makes friends with
Mattheson, 17 ; his talent for im-
provisation, 18 note ; quarrels with
Mattheson, 19 ; produces hisyis/^tt
Passion (1704), 21 ; produces
Ahnira, (1705), 22 ; meets Gian
Gastone dei Meditri, 23 ; produces
Nero, 23 ; and Florindo und
Daphne, 26; leaves Hamburg
(1706), ib. ; arrives at Florence,
28 ; produces Rodrigo (1707),
29 ; arrives at Rome, 32, 209 ;
introduced to Cardinal Ottoboni,
33 ; visits Venice, 36 ; meets Prince
Ernest Augustus, 36, 38 ; meets
Domenico Scarlatti, 38, 339 ;
returns to Rome (1708), 38 ;
356
HANDEL
composes Resurrezioite and j
Trionfo del Tempo, 40 ; his
encounter with Corelli, ib. ;
visits Naples, 41 ; composes
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, 43 ; '
returns to Rome (1709), 44; 1
second visit to Venice, 46 ; ]
production of Agripphia, ib. ;
meets Kielmansegg, 48 ; ac-
companies him to Hanover
(1710), 49 ; appointed Kapell-
meister there, 49 ; visits
DUsseldorf, 49 ; arrives in
London, 51, 261 ; produces
Rinaldo (171 1 ), 57 ; plays at
Thomas Britton's, 61 ; returns
to Hanover, ib. ; visits Halle,
63 ; his second visit to London
(1712), 63 ; produces Pastor
Fido, 64 ; and Teseo (1713))
64 ; stays with Lord Burlington,
67 ; plays St. Paul's organ, ib. ;
writes Birthday Ode and Utrecht
Te Deum, 69 ; produces Silla
(1714) and Amadigi (1715), 70,
78 ; composes Water Music, 73 ;
reconciled to George I, 74 ;
accompanies him to Hanover
(1716), 76 ; composes Brockes
Passion, 77 ; visits Ansbach, ib. ;
returns to England (1717), 78 ;
appointed musical director at
Canons (1718), 82; writes
Chandos Anthems and TeDeuni,
82 ; appointed musical director
of Royal Academy of music
(1719), 86; goes to Germany,
86 ; misses Bach at Halle, 87 ;
returns to London (1720), 88 ;
composes Esther, Acis and
Galatea, and Suites de Pieces, 84 ;
produces Radamisto, 88 ; colla-
borates with Bononcini and
Mattei in Muzio Scevola (1721),
90 ; produces Floridante, ib. ;
engages Cuzzoni (1722), 91 ;
produces Ottone (1723), ib. ;
his quarrel with Cuzzoni, 92 ;
Byrom's epigram on, 94 ; pro-
duces Flavio, 95 ; his encounter
with Gordon, ib. ; produces
Giulio Cesare (1724), ib. ;
Tanierlano, 96 ; Rodelinda
(1725), ib. ; and Scipio (1726),
ib. ; becomes naturalised, 97 ;
appointed composer to the
Chapel Royal, ib. ; produces
Alessandro, 98 ; doggerel verses
on, ib. ; produces ^^wi5/'o( 1727),
100 ; composes minuets for
court ball, 104 ; and anthems
for George ll's coronation, 105 ;
produces Riccardo, ib. ; Bonon-
cini's attack on, 107 ; produces
Siroe (1728) and Tolomeo, ib. ;
collapse of Royal Academy of
Music, ib. ; partnership with
Heidegger, 108 ; visits Italy,
ib. ; and Halle (1729), no;
declines invitation to visit Bach,
ib. ; returns to London, in ;
produces Lotario, ib. ; and Parte-
nope (1730), 113; reorganises
his company, 114; produces
Poro (1731), Ezio {1732), and
Sosa7-f?ie, ib. ; revival of Esther,
115; and of Acis, 117; his
subscribers rebellious, 118
produces Orlando (1733), and
Deborah, 119; anti-Handelian
lampoon appears in Craftsman,
120; hostility of Prince of
Wales, 125 ; rival opera
organised, 126 ; Handel visits
Oxford, 127 ; produces .4//ia//a/^,
ib. ; returns to London, 128 ;
his enemies exposed in Harmony
in an Uproar, ib. ; trip to Italy,
129; engages Carestini, ib. ;
produces Ariadne (1734), 130 ;
writes anthem for Princess
Anne's wedding, 132 ; produces
Parnasso in Festa, ib. ; plays at
Mrs. Delany's, 133, 136, 140 ;
opens season at Lincoln's Inn
Fields, 134 ; moves to Covent
Garden, ib. ; produces Terpsi-
cho7-e, Orestes, and Ariodante
(1735)) ib. ; performs oratorios
and concertos, 136 ; produces
Alcina, 137 ; quarrels with
Carestini, ib. ; produces Alex-
ander s Feast (1736) ; writes
anthem for Prince of Wales's
INDEX
357
wedding, 138; produces
Atalanta, ib. ; and Ar>?iiiiio
(^737)> Giustino, and Berenice,
140 ; revises Triofifo del Tempo,
ib. ; his health breaks down,
140 ; declared bankrupt, 141 ;
goes to Aix-la-Chapelle, ib. ;
restored to health, 144 ; writes
cantata for Elbing, ib. ; legend-
ary story relating to Frederick the
Great, ib. ; plays the organ in
Flanders, 145; returns to London,
ib. ; composes Funeral Anthem,
147 ; agrees to write operas for
Heidegger, ib. ; produces Fara-
viondo (1738), Serse, and Ales-
sajidro Severo, 1 48; takes a
benefit, ib. ; composes ^a«/, 149 ;
his friendship with Jennens, 148-
151 ; composes Israel in Egypt,
151 ; produces Saul and Israel
(1739), 152 ; Jupiter in Argos,
153 ; and Ode for St. Cecilia's
i^c^y^ 155 > composes L' Allegro
(1740), 157 ; produces Imeiteo
and Deidamia (1741), 158; his
visit to Dublin, 160; leaves
London, 161 ; stays at Chester,
ib. ; arrives at Dublin, 162 ; his
concerts there, 162, 165 ;
rehearsal of Messiah (1742),
166 ; production of Messiah,
167; returns to London, 170;
produces Samson (1743), 174;
produces Messiah in London,
177 ; writes Dettingen TeDeu/n,
179; produces Semele (1744),
179 ; holds rehearsal at Carlton
House, 181 ; produces Joseph,
ib. ; composes Belshazzar, 182 ;
bitter feeling against him, 1S3 ;
failure of his concerts, 1S5 ;
produces Hercules (174S) and
Belshazzar, ib. ; his health
affected, ib. ; declared a bank-
rupt, 187 ; produces Occasiottal
Oratorio (1746), 191 ; znA Judas
MaccabcEtis (1747), 192 ; Mo-
rell's description of Handel's
method of working, ib. ;
Handel's music becomes
fashionable, 194 ; he abandons
subscription performances, ib. ;
his meeting with Gluck, 195 ;
Burney's experience of his
impetuosity, 196 ; Handel and
Frasi, 197 ; supposed noisiness
of his music, 197 ; produces
Alexander Balus (1748), 198;
diXiA Joshua, ib. ; his opinion of
"See, the conquering hero
comes," 199 ; produces Susanna
(ly^g) cLiid Solomon, 199; writes
Fireworks Music, 200 ; his
opinion of the "serpent," 202;
his generosity to Foundling Hos-
pital, 203 ; his concerts affected
by earthquakes (1750), 204;
produces Theodora, 205 ;
Burney's description of Handel's
smile, ib. ; composes Alceste
and Choice of Hercules, ib. ;
goes abroad, and is hurt in
accident, 207 ; befriends
Cuzzoni, ib. ; his eyesight fails,
208 ; produces Jephtha (1752),
208 ; compared to Pitt, 209 ;
his growing blindness, 212 ;
complete loss of sight (1753),
ib. ; continues his concerts with
Smith's assistance, 213; calls
in Stanley's aid, 214; pecuniary
success of his oratorios, 215 ;
produces Triumph of Time and
Truth, (1757), 215 ; revision of
Solomon and Susanna {1759),
216 ; his quarrel with Schmidt,
ib. ; last illness, death, and
funeral, 217 ; his personal
appearance, 218 ; character, ib. ;
and religious views, 219; his
use of Siciliani, 228 ; Scarlatti's
influence upon him, 228, 229 ;
his recitative compared with
Purcell's, 229 ; Steffani's and
Bononcini's influence upon him,
230, 237, 238 ; his Rinaldo
compared with Gluck's Armida,
231 ; his use of horns, 237, 239 ;
his Admeto compared with Gluck's
Iphigenia in Tauris, 242 ; his
orchestration, 243, 277, 288,
293) 316 ; his style influenced
by Vinci and Hasse, 244 ; his
358
HANDEL
interest in street-cries, 254 ; his
oratorio style, 236, 261, 262 ;
compared to Bach, 263-265, 285,
298, 300 ; contemporary view
of his music, 274 ; his allusions
to bagpipes, 282, 314; his view
of Christianity, 286 ; his view
of chastity, 305 ; his lack of
false pride, 315 ; his organ-play-
ing, 333 ; compared with Beeth-
oven, 335 ; his indebtedness to
other composers, 344
Operas and other Dramatic
Works
Admelo, 100, 242, 337
Agrippina, yj note, 43, 46, 222,
226-228, 260
Alcesle, 206, 322
A/chyinisf, The, 338
Ahina, 137, 222, 231, 251, 252
Alessandro, 98, 241, 242
Alessattdro Severo, 148
Almira, 22, 221, 224, 225, 228, 336
Amadigi, 70, 233, 234, 235, 252
Ariadne, 130, 134, 249, 250
Ariodante, 134, 250, 251, 338
Arminio, 140, 253
Atalanta, 138, 252
Berenice, 140, 253
Deidainia, 158, 222, 254
Ezio, 114, 246
Farariiondo, 147 note, 148, 253
Flavio, 95, 238
Florida nte, 90, 237, 238
Florindo nnd Daphne, 26
Giulio Cesare, 95, 238, 239
Giustino, 140, 222, 253
Imeneo, 158, 165, 222, 254
Lotario, iii, 112, 244, 245
Muzio Scevola, 90, 237
Nero, 23
Orestes, 134
Orlando, 1 19, 247-249
Otione, 91, 238
Partenope, 1 13, 244, 245
Pastor Fido, 11, 64, 134, 226, 235
Poro, 114, 245, 246
Radamisto, 88, 222, 235-237, 253
Riccardo, 105, 242
Rinaldo, 57, 78, 225, 227, 228,
230-233, 252, 346
Operas and other Dramatic
Works — {continued)
Rodelinda, 96, 240, 241, 242, 243
Rodrigo, 29, 225-227, 338
Scipio, 96, 114, 241, 242
Serse, 147 note, 148, 253
Siila, 70, 235
Si roe, 107, 243
Sosarme, 114, 247
Tamerlano, 96, 239
Terpsichore, 134, 338
Teseo, 64, 233, 234, 260
Tolomeo, 107, 243
Oratorios, Cantatas, etc.
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, 43, 228,
232, 261, 269
Acis and Galatea, 82, 83, II4, 1 17,
255, 267, 269-270, 346
Alexander Bahis, 198, 316, 317
Alexander''s Feast, 136, 138, 165,
1S6, 255, 274, 275
Allegro edil Penseroso, II, 157, 162,
164, 165, 255, 2S2, 283
Athaliah, 127, 132, 136, 273, 274,
302
Belshazzar, 182, 185, 187,312, 313
Choice of Hercules, 216, 321, 322
Deborah, 119, 120, 136, 254, 271,
272, 273, 312, 337
Elbing Cantata, 144
Esther, 81, 82, 83, I14-I17, 136,
165, 267-269, 271, 302,334
Hercules, 185, 200, 309-312
Israel in Egypt, 151, 152, 153, 190,
266, 274, 278-281, 302,340-344
Jephtha, 186 note, 208, 220, 228,
322-324
Joseph, 181, 182, 308, 309, 313
[osJma, 198, 199, 228, 266, 317,
318
Judas Maccabcezts, 192-196, 198,
205, 216, 269, 314, 315
Jupiter in Argos, 153
Messiah, The, 40, 161, 163, 166-
171, 174, 177, 178, 200, 203,
205-208, 217, 274, 284-301,
302, 337
Occasional Oratorio, 190, 191, 313,
314, 337
Ode for Queen Anne's Birthday,
69, 262
INDEX
359
Oratorios, Cantatas, etc. —
{continued)
Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, 155, 165,
2S1, 282
Parnasso in Festa, 132, 274
Passion, Brockes, 77, 262-264, 267,
268, 272
Passion, St. John, 21, 257
Resun-ezione, La, 40, 227, 259-261
Saul, 149, 152, 158, 275-278, 312
Sa7nson, 174, 176, 177, 200, 202,
205, 213, 254, 303-306
Semele, 179, 180, 307, 308, 338
Soloi?ion, 199,200,202,216, 318,319
Susafuia, 199, 216, 318-320, 337
Theodora, 205, 206, 320, 321
Trionfo del Tempo, II, 40, 140, 215,
225, 227, 261, 275, 324, 335
Triumph of Time and Truth, The,
215, 261, 275, 324, 325, 337
Chamber Music
Cantatas, 40, 43, 232
Chamber duets, 62, 291, 292, 295
French chansons, 43
German songs, 62
Harpsichord pieces, 62, 84, 327, 328
Sonatas, 328, 330
Spanish song, 43
Trios, 6, 327, 329, 330
Church Music
Anthems —
Chandos, 82, 264-266
Coronation, 105, 270-272
Dettingen, 179, 307
Foundhng, 203
Funeral, 147, 153, 275
Wedding, 132, 138, 274, 275
Dixit Dominus, 32, 229, 257
Jubilate, Utrecht, 69, 262
Laudate pueri (Halle), 13
Laudate pueri {Rome), 32, 257
JVisi Dominus, 257
Te Deums —
Chandos, 82, 266
Dettingen, 179, 275, 307
Utrecht, 69, 272, 307
Orchestral Music
Concertos —
Grand, 332
Orchestral Music — {continued)
Hautboy, 62, 331, 332
Organ, 136, 333-335
Fireworks Music, 200-202, 336
Minuets, 104
Overtures, 336, 337
Water Music, 73, 335
Doubtful Works
Ack, Hen , mich armen Siinder,
13
Erlosung des Volks Gottes, Die, 13
Magnificat (Erba), 45 note
Te Detim (Urio), 45
Ungerathene Sohn, Der, 13
Handel, Valentine, 2
Hankey, Sir T., 205
Hanover, Handel's visits to, 49, 62,
76, III
Harcourt, Lord, letter on English
musical taste, 114
" Harmonious Blacksmith, The," 84,
327
Harmony in an Uproar, 128
Harris, James, 185, 186 7iote
Harris, Thomas, 186 note, 188
Harris, William, 186 note, 188,
190, 191
Hasse, Johann Adolph, his opinion
of Carestini, 130; his influence
upon Handel, 244
Hautboy concertos (Handel), 62,
331, 332
Hawkins, Sir John, description of
Handel at Hanover, 49 ; and at
Burlington House, 67 ; his
opinion of " See, the conquering
hero comes," 199 ; and of
Handel's religious views, 219
Hawkins, Letitia Matilda, her opinion
of Beard, 175 ; her story of " See,
the conquering hero comes," 198
Haydn, Franz Joseph, his opinion
oi Joshua, 199
Haym, Nicola, 64, 86
Hearne, Thomas, 127
Heidegger, John James, undertakes
management of opera, 65 ; his
career, 65 ; writes libretto of
Amadigi, 70 ; his partnership
with Handel, 108 ; deserts
36o
HANDEL
Handel, 126; Handel writes
operas for, 147
Herbert, Lady Henrietta, marries
Beard, 175
He rcu/es (Ha.r\de\), 185, 200, 309-312
Hervey, Lord, his description of
the rival operas, 131
Highwaymen, 54, 83
Hill, Aaron, 57
Hill, John, sings in Messiah, 68
Holmes, William, invites Handel to
Oxford, 126
Horns, Handel's use of, 237, 239
Hughes, John, 60, 63
Humphreys, Samuel, 83, 116
Hurlothrumbo (Johnson), 1 12, 1 13
Hydaspes (Mancini), 56, 57
Idomenco (Mozart), 253
Ivieneo (Handel), 158, 165, 222, 254
Innocent xi, Pope, 258
Innocent xii. Pope, 258
Iphigenia in Tauris (Gluck), 242
Is7-ael in Egypt (Handel), 1 51-153,
190, 266, 274, 278-281
James, the Old Pretender, 109
Janson, 161
"Jenkins's ear," war of, 154, 178
Jennens, Charles, writes libretto of
Said, 149 ; his friendship with
Handel, il>. ; his character, 150;
dissatisfaction with music of
Messiah, 178 ; writes libretto
of Belshazzar, 1 82, 183, 312 ;
his arrangement of U Allegro,
157, 164, 282; his Messiah
libretto, 149, 287, 288
Jephtha (Handel), 186 note, 208,
220, 228, 322-324
Jews, patronise y/<.iaj Maccabceus, 197
Johann Adolf, Duke of Saxe-
Weissenfels, 3, 5
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine,
Handel's visits to, 49, 61 ; his
character, 49 ; correspondence
with Elector of Hanover and
Electress Sophia, 51
Johnson, Samuel, produces Htirlo-
thriunbo, 112
Joseph (Handel), 181, 182, 308, 309,
313
Joshua (Handel), 198, 199, 228,
266, 317, 318
Jubilate, Utrecht (Handel), 69, 262
Judas Maccabctus (Handel), 192-196,
198, 205, 216, 269, 314, 315
Jupiter (Sheridan), 197
Jupiter in Argos (Handel), 153
Keiser, Reinhard, at Hamburg, 16 ;
Handel succeeds him at Ham-
burg opera, 21 ; gives libretto of
Alinira to Handel, 22 ; resets
Almira, 23 ; his music compared
with Handel's, 224 ; his influence
upon Handel, 261, 263
Kerl, Johann Caspar, 280
Kielmansegg, Baron, meets Handel
in Venice, 48 ; reconciles Handel
to George i, 71
Kielmansegg, Baroness, 71
Kinnoull, George, Earl of, his
anecdote of J/(j5j/a^, 177
Knatchbull, Sir William, 164
La Feve, Mile, 57
Lambe, William, sings in Messiah,
1 68, 170
Lampe, John Frederick, 141
Laiidatepueri [W^TiA^i), 13, 32, 257
Leibniz, G. W. von. Baron, his
friendship with Sophia Charlotte
of Prussia, 8 ; praises Caroline
of Ansbach's singing, 62
L'Epine, Margherita de, 55
Lincoln's Inn Fields, duels fought in,
53; theatre in, 106, 126, 130,
131, 134, 155, 156
London, Plandel's first visit to, 52 ;
social conditions in, ib. ; opera
in, 55 ; concerts in, 59 ; Handel's
second visit to, 64
Lotario (Handel), iii, 112, 244, 245
Lotti, Antonio, 131, 346
Louisa, Princess, Handel composes
lessons for, 84
Lovat, Simon, Lord, his trial, 192
Loves of Ergasto, The (Greber), 55
Liibeck, Handel's visit to, 17, 18
Luxborough, Lady, describes her
steward's visit to Judas Macca-
baus, 194 ; refers to Handel's
interest in street cries, 254
INDEX
361
Maclaine, accompanies Handel to
Dublin, 162
Maclaine, Mrs., sings in Messiah,
169, 170
MacSwiney, Owen, manages Queen's
Theatre, 64 ; flies from England,
ib ; conducts season of English
opera, 85
Magnificat (Erba), 45 note
Mainwaring, John, references to his
biography of Handel, 3-5, 9, 10,
20, 24, 25, 29, 30, 37, 41, 46
note, 90 7iote, 149, i6i
Manchester, Charles, Duke of, meets
Handel in Venice, 39 ; corres-
pondence with Vanbrugh, 55, 56
Marchesini, sings for Handel, 148
Marlborough, Henrietta, Duchess of,
patronises Bononcini, 93
Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of,
her description of the Duke of
Montagu, 66 7iote ; her story
of George 11, 146
Martinelli, Vincenzo, describes Lady
Brown's parties, 184
Mason, John, sings in Messiah, 168
Mattei, Filippo, collaborates in Mitzio
Scevola, 90
Mattheson, Johann, meets Handel
at Hamburg, 16 ; production of
his Cleopatra, 19 ; duel with
Handel, ib. ; criticises Handel's
John Passion, 2i ; sings in
Handel's Almira, 22 ; sets
Brockes's Passion, 77 ; his note
on Handel's Passion, 77 note ;
Handel refuses to contribute to
his Ehren-Pforte, 83 ; his story of
Handel's abduction ofa nun, 1 10 ;
criticises Handel's borrowings,
347
Merighi, Antonia, Mrs. Delany's
description of, III; sings at
Haymarket, 139
Merlini, Annibale, his letter to
Ferdinand dei Medici, 32, 339
Messiah, The, 40, 161, 163, 1 66-171,
174, 177, 178, 200, 203, 205-
208, 217, 274, 284-301, 302,
337
Michaelsen, Johann Friedrich, 63,
Middlesex, Lord, manages concerts,
147 note ; manages opera, 165 ;
collapse of his management,
. ^83
Milan, Handel's visit to, 109
Miller, James, writes libretto of
Joseph, 181
Milton, John, his V Allegro adapted
by Jennens, 157, 282; his
Samson Agonistes adapted by
Hamilton, 174, 303 ; Handel
compared with, 212
Minuets (Handel), 104
Mirandola, Duke of, 339
Mohocks, 53
Montagnana, Antonio, 121, 126, 134,
139, 148, 246
Montagu, Elizabeth, letter on the
earthquake, 204
Montagu, John, Duke of, his taste
for practical joking, 66 ; plays
trick on Heidegger, ib. ; Joseph
dedicated to him, 182
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, her
description of court at Hanover,
76 ; account of Beard's marriage,
175
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat,
Baron de, his visit to England,
209
Morell, Thomas, writes libretto of
Judas MaccahcEu.s, 192 ; his
description of Handel's method
of working, ib. ; writes libretto
of Alexander Bahis, 198;
libretto of Solomon attributed
to him, 199 ; writes libretto of
Theodora, 205, 320 ; his conver-
sation with Handel on it, ib. ;
translates Triumph of Time and
7>i<//z, 215, 324; Handel resents
his criticisms, 315
Mozart, W. A. von, his Idomeneo,
253 ; tribute to Handel, 275 ;
additional accompaniments to
Messiah, 289. 291-293, 296,
299 ; his Entfiihrung, 320
Muffat, A. G., 346
Muzio Scevola (Handel and others),
90. 237
Naples, Handel's visit to, 41
362
HANDEL
Neal's Music'jHall, Dublin, 162 note,
163
Nero (Handel), 23
Newton, Sir Isaac, his opinion of
opera, 88
Nicolini, 56, 58, 70
Nisi Donihitis {\\ilt\Aq\), 257
Nuviitore (Porta), 88
Occasional Oratorio (Handel), 190,
191, 313, 314, 337
Ode for Queeji Anne's Birthday
(Handel), 69, 262
Ode for St. Cecilia! s Day (Handel),
155, 165, 281, 282
Ombrosi, Luca, 31
Opera, Handel's treatment of, 221
Oratorio, Handel's treatment of, 256 ;
its rise and development, 257-
259
Orazio (Tosi), 43 note
Orchestration, Handel's, 239, 243,
245, 277, 288, 293, 316
Orestes (Handel), 134
Organ, Handel's organ-playing, 18
note, 145, 213, 333
Organ Concertos (Handel), 136,333-
335
Ottoboni, Cardinal, Handel plays at
his house, 33, 339; his Academy,
33 ; description of one of his
musical entertainments, 34;
Handel's contest with D. Scar-
latti at his house, 38 ; Resur-
rezione and Trionfo del Tempo
produced under his auspices, 40 ;
Steflfani and Handel meet at his
house, 44 ; Handel visits him in
1729, 109
Overtures (Handel), 336, 337
Oxford, Handel's visit to, 126 ;
Athaliah produced at, 137 ;
Samson performed at, 176
Pallandt, Baron von, 39
Parnasso itt Festa{aznAe\), 132, 274
Partenope (Handel), 113, 244, 245
Pasquiti (Fielding), 139
Pasquini, Bernardo, 35
Passion, Brockes (Handel), 77, 262-
264, 267, 268, 272
Passion, Matthew (Bach), 285
Passion, St. John (Handel), 21, 257
Pastor Fido, II (Handel), 64, 134,
226, 23s
Pellegrini, Valeriano, sings in Agrip-
pina, 48 ; in Pastor Fido, 64
Pembroke, Mary, Countess of, sup-
ports Cuzzoni, 99 ; her letter to
Lady Sundon, loi ; epigram on,
104
Penelope (Galuppi), 165
Pepusch, John Christopher, plays at
Britton's concerts, 60 ; musical
director at Canons, 81 ; dis-
placed by Handel, 82 ; arranges
music of Beggar^ s Opera, 106 ;
satirised in Harmony in an
Uproar, 129
Peri, Jacopo, 257
Perti, Giacomo Antonio, 28, 36
Peterborough, Charles, Earl of, his
attachment to Anastasia Robin-
son, 71,91; horsewhips Senesino,
.95
Pilkington, Sir Lionel, letter on
Handel's Italian journey, 109
Pirker, Marianne, 207
Pirro e Demeirio (Scarlatti), 56, 57
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham,
compared with Handel, 209
Polly (Gay), 112
Polwarth, Patrick, Baron, discovers
Handel's early trios, 6
Pope, Alexander, meets Handel at
Burlington House, 67 ; invited
to Chiswick by Lord Burlington,
68 ; satirises Duke of Chandos,
79 ; libretto of Esther attributed
to, 83, 267 ; his lines on Figg,
the prize-fighter, 103 ; allusion
to Handel in Dunciad, 173
Poro (Handel), 114, 245, 246
Porpora, Niccola Antonio, appointed
musical director of " Opera of
the Nobility," 126 ; produces
his Ariadne, 130; David, 136;
and Festa cTIineneo, 139
Porta, Giovanni, production of his
Numitore, 88
Pratolino, Prince Ferdinand's court
at, 27 ; Handel's visit to, 28 ;
Prince Ferdinand's illness at,
45
INDEX
363
Prevost, Abbe, refers to Handel's
refusal of a degree at Oxford,
127 note ; describes Farinelli
furore, 134; refers to Mile.
Salle, 137; defends Handel's
borrowings, 347, 348
Prior, Matthew, his epigram on
Britton, 61
Prize-fights, 103
Programme Music, Handel's employ-
ment of, 251, 312, 313, 337, 338
Protoparentum Crimen et Fcena, 259
Puliti, Leto, 29
Purcell, Henry, his treatment of
recitative compared with
Handel's, 229 ; possible in-
fluence of Dido and ALneas on
Handel, 246 ; his influence on
Handel, 262, 319, 321
Queensberry, Duchess of, 112
Quin, Dr., his account of Handel's
reception in Dublin, 167
Radamisto (Handel), 88, 222, 235-
237> 253
Regnard, J. F., his criticism of opera
at Hamburg, 15
Reinholt, Thomas, 191
Resurrezione, La (Handel), 40, 227,
259-261
Rheingold, Das (Wagner), 277
Riccardo (Handel), 105, 242
Rich, John, 176, 206, 338
Riemschneider, iii
Rinaldo (Handel), 57, 78, 225, 227,
228, 230-233, 252, 346
Robinson, Anastasia, 71. 91
Robinson, Percy, references to his
Handel and his Orbit, 45 7ioie,
77 note, 345, 346, 348
Rochetti, 117
Rockstro, W, S., references to his
biography of Handel, 20, 105,
162 note, 191, 223
Rodelinda (Handel), 96, 240-243
Rodrigo (Handel), 29, 225-227,
338 . .
Rolli, Paolo, his epigram on Ariosti,
9 note ; appointed poet to Royal
Academy of ^Tusic. 86 ; writes
libretto of Z>(?z^a;«/a, 158
Rome, Handel's visits to, 32, 40, 44,
109 ; oratorio in, 258, 259
Roner, Andreas, 63
Rosamond (Clayton), 57
Rossi, Giacomo, 57, 64
Roubiliac, L. F., his statue of
Handel erected at Vauxhall,
149 ; his monument to Handel
in Westminster Abbey, 218
Royal Academy of Music, foundation
of, 85 ; collapse, 107
Ruspoli, Marquis di, Handel meets
him at Rome, 35 ; stays in his
house, 40
Russel, 185
Rutland, Duke of, 214
Salle, Mile., 134, 137, 250, 338
Samso7i (Handel), 174, 176, 177,
200, 202, 205, 213, 254, 303-
306
Santayana, George, his Interpreta-
tions of Poetry and Religion
quoted, 286
Saul (Handel), 149, 152, 158, 275-
278, 312
Saussure, Cesar de, describes female
prize - fight, 103 ; describes
George ii's coronation, 105
Scarlatti, Alessandro, his friendship
with Ferdinand dei Medici, 28 ;
meets Handel, 35 ; admitted to
Arcadian Academy, ib. ; de-
scription of his performance,
36 ; leaves Rome for Naples,
41 ; directs musical entertain-
ment at Naples, 42 ; his Pirro e
Demetrio produced in London,
56, 57 ; his influence on Handel,
228 ; his oratorios, 258
Scarlatti, Domenico, meets Handel
at Venice, 38 ; his "contest with
Handel at Rome, ib.
Scheibe, Johann Adolph, criticises
Handel's borrowings, 347
Schmidt, Johann Christoph, brought
to England by Handel, 77 ;
accompanies Handel to Italy,
129; his quarrel with Handel
216 ; and reconciliation, 217
Schoelcher, Victor, reference to his
biography of Handel, 191
364
HANDEL
Schulenburg, Ehrengard Melusine
von, Duchess of Kendal, 71
Schulenburg, Melusine von, Countess
of Chesterfield, 87, 180
Scipio (Handel), 96, 114, 241,
242
Scots, Handel's dislike of, 281
Semele (Handel), 179, 180, 307, 30S,
338
Senesino, sings at Venice, 37 ;
engaged by Handel, 86 ;
Burney's description of his voice,
89 note ; sings in Floridante,
90 ; in Giulio Cesare, 95 ;
is horsewhipped by Lord
Peterborough, ib. ; his triumphs
in Handel's operas, 109 ;
Handel refuses to engage him,
no; re-engaged by Handel,
114; sings in Foro, ib. ; in
Orlando, 119, 248; deserts
Handel, 126; criticised by
Arbuthnot, 130; sings at King's
Theatre, 134 ; his admiration
for FarineUi, 135
Serpent, Handel's use of, 202
Serse (Handel), 147 note, 148, 253
Servandoni, Chevalier, 200, 202,
206
Shaftesbury, Anthony, Earl of, his
biographical sketch quoted, 108,
119, 141, 145, 147 note;
Handel's message to, 164 ; his
letters referring to Handel, 188,
204
Shaftesbury, Susannah, Countess of,
letter about Handel, 185 ;
present at performance of
Sttsanna, 199
Sharp, Samuel, consulted by Handel,
212, 214
She Stoops to Conquer (Goldsmith),
250
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, satirises
Handel in Jupiter, 197 ; refers
to Ariadne minuet in Critic,
250
Shield, William, his story of Haydn,
199
Siciliani, Handel's employment of
22S
Silla (Handel), 70, 235
Siroe (Handel), 107, 243
Smith, John Christopher, befriended
by Handel, 77 ; assists Handel
at his concerts, 213 ; reconciles
his father to Handel, 217
Smock-runs, 103
Smollett, Tobias, refers to Handel
in his Advice, 185 ; writes
Alceste, 206
Smyth, James, 215, 217
Solomon (Handel), 199, 200, 202,
216, 318, 319
Sonatas (Handel), 32S, 330
Songs (Handel) —
French, 43
German, 62
Spanish, 43
Sophia, Electress of Hanover,
Handel introduced to, 49 ;
Elector Palatine's letter to,
62
Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Prussia,
her court at Berlin, 7 ; her
friendship with Leibniz, 8 ;
her influence upon Caroline of
Ansbach, 62
Sosarme, (Handel) 114, 247
Spectator, The, satirises Italian opera,
56 ; attacks Rinaldo, 58
Stanley, John, assists Handel at his
concerts, 214
Steele, Sir Richard, praises Nicolini,
56 ; satirises Kinaldo, 57
Steffani, Agostino, meets Handel in
Rome, 44 ; leaves Italy, 46
note ; welcomes Handel to
Hanover, 49 ; his death, 109 ;
his influence on Handel, 230
Stella, Giorgio, 48
Strada del P6, Signer, 141, 148
Strada del P6, Anna, no, iii, 114,
119, 126, 133, 140
Street-cries, Handel's interest in,
254
Stukely, William, records a meeting
with Newton, 88
Sullivan, Sir Arthur, his parody of
Handel, 230
Sundon, Lady, Lady Pembroke's
letter to, loi
Susanna (Handel), 199, 216, 318-
320, 337
INDEX
365
Synge, Edward, Bishop of Elphin,
his opinion of Messiah, 171
Talbot, Catherine, her opinion of
Samsoti, 176 ; disapproves of
Messiah in a theatre, 177 note ;
her criticism of Belshazzar,
187
Tavierlano (Handel), 96, 239
Tarquini, Vittoria, 31
Tatler, The, satirises Italian opera,
56 ; attacks Rinaldo, 58
Taust, Dorothea, marries George
Handel, 2 ; her character, 1 1 ;
Handel's visits to, 26, 49, 63,
iio: her death, no
Taylor, Sedley, 345
Te Dcum (Handel) —
Chandos, 82, 266
Dettingen, 179, 275, 307
Urio, 45 note
Utrecht, 69, 262, 307
Telemann, Georg Philipp, meets
Handel at Halle, 12 ; and at
Weissenfels, ib.
Terpsichore (Handel), 134, 338
Teseo (Handel), 64, 233, 234,
260
Tesi, Vittoria, 30
Theodora (Handel), 205, 206, 320,
321
Thornyris, 65
Thoresby, Ralph, 61
Tolojiieo (Handel), 107, 243
Trionfo del Tempo, 11 (Handel), 40,
140, 215, 225, 227, 261, 275,
324> 335
Trios (Handel), 6, 327, 329, 330
Tristan mid Isolde (Wagner), 281
Triumph of Titne and Truth, The,
215, 261, 275, 324, 325, 337
Tunbridge Wells, Handel's visits to,
138, 188, 216
Urio Te Deutn, 45 note, 345
Utrecht Te Deiwt and Jubilate
(Handel), 69
Valeriano. See Pellegrini
Vanbrugh, Sir John, builds Queen's
Theatre, 55 ; his correspondence
with Duke of Manchester, 56
Vauxhall Gardens, Roubiliac's statue
of Handel erected at, 149 ;
rehearsal of Handel's Fireworks
Music at, 202
Venice, Handel's visits to, 36, 46,
109, no
Vernon, Mrs., entertains Handel in
Dublin, 168
Vinci, Leonardo, his influence on
Handel, 244
Wagner, Richard, his giants in Das
Rheingold compared with
Handel's Goliath, 277 ; Tristan
compared with Israel in Egypt,
281 ; Lohengrin prelude antici-
pated by Handel, 294
Wake, William, Archbishop of
Canterbury, 105
Walpole, Catherine, Lady, 99
Walpole, Horace, his description of
a highway robbery, 54 ; of
Baroness Kielmansegg, 72 note ;
his observations on Saiyison,
174, 176; describes Lady
Brown's parties, 184 ; refers to
Handel's paralysis, 187 7iote ; to
Jacobite rebellion, 190 ; de-
scribes celebration of Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, 201 ; mentions
earthquakes, 204
Walpole, Sir Horatio, lampooned by
Craftsman, 120 ; his remark on
Duke of Devonshire, 160
Walpole, Sir Robert, lampooned by
Craftsman, 120 ; national revolt^
against his policy, 154; char-
acteristics of his era, 209
Walsh, John, 346
Ward, Edward, describes Britton's
concerts, 60, 61
Ward, Joseph, sings in Messiah,
168
Warren, Dr., 217
Water Music (Handel), 73, 335
Water-Parties, 73
Wedding Anthems (Handel), 132,
138, 274, 275
Weissenfels, Duke Johann Adolf
moves his court to, 3 ; Handel's
visits to, 4, 12
366
HANDEL
Wentwoith, William, Lord, his
anecdote of George ii, 146;
letter relating to Handel, 152
Wesley, John, his influence on
English society, 211
Westmorland, Lady, supports
Handel, 180
Whitchurch, 80, 81
Wiel, Taddeo, 46
Wyche, John, Handel gives music
lessons to his son, 20
Zachow, Friedrich Wilhelm,
instructs Handel, 5 ; Handel
befriends his widow, 77
Zappi, Giambattista, 36
Printed by
Morrison & Gibb Limited
Edinburgh